Name's Memory
by oompha
Summary: When Lexi moves back to Sacramento after being gone for 6 years, she runs into her old best friend Anthony Padilla, and meets a strange man who seems to linger at the edge of her memory...
1. Intro

**So this is my first fanfic... ever... and since I'm a HUGE fan of Smosh, I wanted to write a piece about them. I've already written about 8 chapters or so, so I'll try to put one up every weekend. Feedback is VERY MUCH appreciated. Also, thanks to everyone who's already put up a smosh fanfic, and a HUGE thanks to UnselfishSacrifice, whose amazing fanfic, Picture Perfect, inspired me to write this! Thanks! (BTW, I know this chapter is short, but it IS just an intro...)**

Chapter 1: Intro

I sighed as I closed my browser. I knew that that would be all the smoshing I could do that day; my dad would kill me if I stayed up past 10. I didn't see why, though, since he usually only went to bed around 2 in the morning. So much for having a "cool, un-American father".

Retreating to my room as soon as my computer shut down, I grabbed my iPod off the charger and entered my passcode. YouTube on iPods was really slow, so I was stuck reading fanfiction instead of watching videos made by the two famous Californians themselves. Either way, fanfiction was usually more interesting. Unless it was terribly written or had a plagiarized plotline, I enjoyed a good fanfiction. Especially if Ian was the one with the love interest.

Oh, Ian... The way his beautiful blue eyes shine against the light... The way black shirts accent his brown hair... The way his voice thickens when he laughs...

I sat on my bed cross-legged, iPod slid between my legs, brown eyes dancing with a daydream. As if I would ever get to experience any of that. Girls from Ohio - especially brunette girls from Ohio who wear glasses - don't get with super-famous sexy guys from California. Okay, maybe I wasn't from Ohio, maybe I was from Indiana, but I liked to think I belonged to Ohio and to Ohio only. Because if I had lived here my entire life, I would never have ever met Jude. He was still in my thoughts everyday, even though I hadn't seen him in several years. Sure, Ian and Anthony (Lies, it's only Ian) had taken my mind off of him slightly, but there was really only so much Smosh could do. Since I could obviously never be with Ian.

I knew that, so daydreaming was as close as I could get. Leaning back onto my pillow, I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath, and allowed my mind to slide to a 24-year-old fictional Californian girl who happened to think a lot like me...


	2. Moving Backwards

Chapter 2: Moving Backwards

As the familiar trees rushed past our window, I pretended that time was moving backwards.

It had been so many years since I lived in Sacramento, but I remembered the tiniest details. How the knothole in that tree looked like a horse. The way the fence around that lot bent inward near the gate. The exact words of the few conversations I had had with my high school crush, Ian Hecox.

I didn't want to go down memory lane of high school, especially since memory lane had some creepy occupants. To avoid it, I turned around in the car as we past my old school. I found myself staring at the drool dangling off the corner of my 17-year-old brother's mouth. Sloane had never been one to be as gorgeous in sleep as he was when conscious. Wide awake, he had all the girls in his arms, petting his perfect dirty blond hair and complimenting his hazel-green eyes. He enjoyed the attention, and didn't mind that it wasn't real. I, however, did mind fake love. Why couldn't I be truly loved?

Sure, I had shiny, straight, platinum blond hair, and my clear, green eyes were flecked with gold. I could get anyone I wanted, but I didn't want someone to be with me just for my pretty face. I wanted someone I knew, someone who knew me. Someone who truly loved me for me.

Backwards moving was time, that pretended I. Window our past rushed, trees familiar the as.


	3. What Had Happened?

I kept my eyes closed for the rest of the trip. I tried focusing on Ian, my former crush, but his image shattered every time our car hit a bump in the road. I held on to the basics, though: brown hair, blue eyes. It was all I could remember.

I wondered if he had stayed in Sacramento after all these years. I mean, it HAD been almost seven years since we had been in high school. Seven years was a long time, so a lot could happen in seven years. Deforming illnesses, divorces and remarriages, deaths... Then again, seven years was a short time. A short-term cold, a break-up and make-up, someone's cousin twice removed kicked the bucket...

My train of thought crashed into a mountainside when my father shook me.

"Cheyenne!" he said, sounding excited. I opened my eyes into slits, and saw his ecstatic face looking at me. Moaning slightly, I focused my gaze on the brown house right behind him. My eyes shot open; this wasn't our house.

"SURPRISE!" my mom screamed, waving a small, homemade party banner.

"Where are we? This isn't our house! You said we were moving back to our old house!" I exclaimed through gritted teeth. When my parents said that we were going to move back to Sacramento, the first thing I had done was ask if we were going to live in our old house again. They hadn't seemed very supportive of the idea, but they said that they would try. Clearly, they hadn't tried very hard.

My mother's face fell when she saw my expression. She dropped her banner back into her purse, snapped it closed, and opened the car door. "I had hoped that you would be surprised to be living in a new house."

Boy, if she know how surprised I was.

Sloane suddenly jumped up and snorted, sucking his drool back in. Ew, much? "Wha? Are we here already? " He leaned forward, excited to see our old house again. When he saw the brown house, his eyes spoke his confusion.

I grimaced. "_Mom_ and _Dad_ bought a NEW house." I stepped out of the car and slammed the door. Sloane opened his door and got out. He shuffled his feet on the concrete driveway.

As Mom and Dad got out of the car, a woman burst through the front door of our new house. She waved wildly and ran down the stairs. "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Reiyne! I'm Tracy Sheridan, from Sunny Homes! We're SO glad that you decided to buy a house through us! Come, I'll give you the 'Grand Tour'!"

I rolled my eyes and grabbed my purse off from the top of the car. My mom and dad always did something if they told us that they'd do it. They told me that they'd get our old house back. What had happened?


	4. Stuck

**It finally sunk in how far away each weekend is from the next... so now I'll just add chapters whenever I have time. I'll still do one every weekend though, don't worry. :) Plus, I'm working on a smosh one-shot, so be on the lookout for that. :)**

Following Sloane, I stepped inside our new home. It was a small, one story house, and Tracy showed us the kitchen nook, a dining room connected to the living room, one bathroom, two bedrooms, and a patio with a swimming pool.

Returning to the living room, I leaned against the frame and crossed my arms. One of the sleeves of my magenta Tee slipped off my shoulder, and my hair covered one eye. I knew that I looked like I had an attitude when I stood like this. It was my well-known sign of disapproval.

"Soooo... only two bedrooms... are Sloane and I sharing a room?" I blew a strand of bleached hair away from my nose.

My mom walked over to my dad and he put his arm around her. "Actually, there's something your dad and I need to tell you." I stood up straight. This was how, 17 years ago, I learned that I was getting a baby brother. I expected the worst. "WE'RE GOING TO ANTARCTICA!"

Sloane jumped up from the couch just as I crumpled to the floor. "WHAT? We're moving AGAIN? We JUST GOT HERE!" Sloane yelled his obvious displeasure. His face turned red, and he ran his hands through his hair. I just sat on the ground, stunned.

"No, honey, you're not going to Antarctica. Just me and your father. We heard that there might be a new specimen of bacteria, and we want to be the first to find it!" She pecked Dad on the cheek. "You two are going to live here in Sacramento, in the new house! And don't worry, Sloane, we're leaving you in Cheyenne's care!" My mom smiled through her teeth.

Now it was my turn to explode. "How can you? We JUST came to Sacramento, you BOUGHT a brand new house, and now you're just DUMPING us here? AND you expect me to take care of my brother, like some sort of nanny gig? That's all I am to you guys! I'm a BABYSITTER that lives in your house, eats your food, but nooo, I'm not your daughter! I don't have a life, I don't have friends, the only thing I can do is babysit for your little boy, your perfect little social butterfly!" I stormed into my new bedroom and slammed the door. I was stuck in Sacramento, a place I hadn't been for 7 years, with no one I knew but my brother.


	5. A Flash of White Teeth

**YAY! FINALLY, some smosh! I'm sorry this storyline is creeping along, but I don't want it to go too fast... then again, it seems like it's going to slow... Anyways, next chapter, Lexi meets Anthony! Anyone excited? Anyone? No? Okay...**

Mom and Dad left later that day. They had helped us unpack our boxes, but they jumped in the car and took off as soon as we finished. I looked out of my window and sighed as the trails of exhaust wafted away.

Returning to the living room, I looked into the mirror hanging on the wall. As usual, my platinum hair was perfectly straight. My large eyes were enhanced with mascara, eyeliner, and eyeshadow. I looked gorgeous, but I didn't want that at the moment. Maybe in Sacramento, I could start over. I could dye my hair, not wear any makeup, and just relax.

Planning to go to a drugstore, I ran to the bathroom. I washed the makeup off of my face, and reapplied just a bit of eye liner. I grabbed a black hoodie and a black beret, put on a pair of tall, sleek lace up boots, and yelled to Sloane that I was going to the store.

As I pulled the door closed behind me, I remembered that Mom and Dad took the car. Great. They left us here without any means of transportation. Sighing again, I adjusted my beret and took off down the driveway. If I had to walk to the store, so be it.

I turned left at the corner and walked two blocks down. I had to turn right to get to where the store was, so I turned a block in advance, just so I would be sure not to miss the store. I could see the line of stores at the end of the road, but there were still three blocks of houses between us.

After walking a block farther, it began to slightly drizzle. It wasn't heavy, but I still didn't want to get even a bit wet. I started walking faster. Once I hit the next block, the rain became heavier, so I started jogging, which was pretty hard with my tall boots. Soon after, I got to a house with the front door open. Curious as to why someone would have their door open in the rain, I slowed to a power walk. A man walked backwards out the door and shut it firmly behind him. He had a navy hood over his head, so I couldn't see him. He was talking on his cell phone as he jogged to a blue car with gold wheels. I couldn't hear him clearly through the rain, but I caught snippets of conversation. "No, he just left... said he was going to the store... I'll tell him... the old school?... Got it." He snapped his cell phone shut just as I passed his driveway. He turned, and I could somewhat see his face. It was still partly covered by his hood, and the rain distorted my vision, but I thought that I caught a glimpse of clear, blue eyes...

I ran into the hedge next to the driveway. I stumbled but quickly regained myself and took off jogging again. I quickly glanced back to see if the man had seen me; a flash of white teeth answered that.


	6. Ian's POV

**I lied. Lexi doesn't meet Anthony in this chapter, but I hope that you shan't be disappointed since this is from IAN'S POINT OF VIEW! See, this chapter was supposed to also have Ian's point of view on his and Lexi's next encounter too, which would place this chapter somewhere around chapter 9 instead, but I really wasn't in the mood to write that much, SOOOO... Also, I already have, I think, 12 chapters written (but not chapter 9...), so don't worry about a sudden loss of writing any time soon. I really have almost NO time to work on this story, but when I do, I can usually grind out a chapter and a half or so... ENJOY CHAPTER 6!**

"IAN! I'M GOING DOWN TO THE STORE TO BUY SOME SODA AND STUFF! NEED ANYTHING?"

I glared into the hallway as Anthony yelled across our house. Sometimes, I wonder why I still live with him.

"NO, JUST HURRY UP! WE NEED TO MEET WITH THE CREW TO WORK OUT OUR NEXT VIDEO!" I shouted back.

I heard the door slam a few seconds later, and whirled back around in my chair. I was trying to finish editing our newest Ian is Bored, but with only 15 minutes l didn't think I could do it.

After 10 minutes, I sighed and shut off our computer. Would Anthony be back on time? I grabbed by car keys and headed to the door. Anthony was going to have to come to the guys' house by himself; I wasn't gonna sit around and wait for him to come home. As I opened the door to reveal the rain, I got a call on my cell. It was Patrick, my old friend from school.

"Hey man, long time no call! How are you?"

"Meh, I'm fine, waiting for Anthony to work out some new Smosh stuff."

"Have fun! Well, I was calling you and Anthony to invite you guys to out High School Reunion! Is he home?"

I walked backwards out the door and started heading to my car."No, he just left a few minutes ago. He said he was going to the store."

"Well, can you tell him about the reunion?"

"Sure, I'll tell him. When and where will it be?

"Two Saturdays from now, and at Wilcox."

"The old school? Got it. Talk to you soon, Patrick!" I snapped my phone shut, hoping the rain wouldn't kill it. A clunk of boots caught my attention, and I turned my face to see what it was. A girl was walking on the sidewalk wearing really tall boots and a black hoodie. Her platinum blond hair fell around her shoulders, eyes glued to mine. I thought I knew her from somewhere, but I didn't know any girls with blond hair like that. It was a bit scary; hair like that couldn't be natural...

She walked straight into the hedge next to my driveway. She seemed startled, like she hadn't seen that the hedge was there. She stood stunned for a few seconds, but quickly started jogging away again. I allowed myself to let out a little laugh, but at that moment she turned her head slightly and glanced back at me. With my luck, she probably saw the smile stretched across my face. She started jogging even faster.

I smiled and shook my head as I jumped into my car.

**P.S. On the bus on the way to school, I get bored so I check my mail. And when I see feedback, I literally jumped out of my seat and hug the girl sitting next to me. If you appreciate this story, please** **please** **_please__PLEASE_ leave feedback and make my day!**


	7. Reconsidered

**WOOOH! Longest chapter yet! BTW, unless I specify in the chapter title who's point of view it is, it will always be Lexi's. Enjoy!**

As I entered the store, I wiped the rain off my hoodie. It hadn't soaked through yet, so I was still pretty dry. I grabbed a shopping cart and headed for the shampoo aisle, wanting to give my hair a good cleaning before dying it. I turned the corner and crashed my cart into someone else's. He shrieked out in pain as his hand got stuck between the two carts, and I briskly pulled my cart away.

"I'm so sorry! Did I break your hand? Do you need me to ca- Anthony?" I glanced up and saw a face I hadn't seen for nearly seven years. Entirely stunned, I jerked up and hit my head on a large bottle of conditioner. It fell off the shelf, dragging two more bottles down with it. I didn't bend to pick them up, though; I was too focused on the face in front of me.

It had barely changed since high school, with the same wide mouth and straight, white teeth. His eyes were identical to the medium brown ones I had become so used to in school. His hair was a little shorter, but it was still a very dark brown shade, swept to the side of his face.

"A-Anthony? Is that really you?" I stuttered. So at least ONE of my ancient high school friends still lived here.

"Hi!" he said, plastering on a smile. It was strung from ear to ear, but I knew it was fake. I had seem him use that same exact smile thousands of times, when people he really didn't want to talk to approached us in the halls. I didn't understand why he was using it with me; we had known each other for 5 years.

"Don't you remember me, Anthony?" I bit my lip, a little shocked that he didn't know me. His smiled stayed exactly the same.

"Oh, yeah, now I remember you! When did we meet, again? Two years ago?" he said through his teeth.

"Wow, I can't believe you don't remember your own best friend from high school!" I accused jokingly, flipping my hair to the side and putting on a prize-winning smile.

Now, his smile faltered. He looked confused for a second. "Who, Ian?"

My smile ran away from my face, and I allowed my eyes to grow wide. I was a little glad for that little bit of eyeliner I had applied earlier, but I didn't care that much. He had struck me straight through heart; how could he not remember Cheyenne Lexi Reiyne, the girl he had sat next to in nearly every class for four years straight? How?

"No, you idiot! I'm Cheyenne! How do you not remember me?"

"Cheyenne? Is that really you?" he whispered as his eyes grew wide.

"Of course, Padilla-Tortilla!" I confirmed, gently punching his arm. It was a cheesy high school nickname I had made for him: Padilla-Tortilla.

"It _is_ you!" Anthony gasped, smiling for real this time. He hugged my really tight, and after a few seconds, I hugged him back. We just stood in the shampoo aisle, hugging for a minute or so.

When he finally let my go, he put his hands on my shoulders and leaned back, getting a good look at me. He burst out in a gigantic smile again.

"What did you do to your hair? Last time I saw it, it was chestnut brown and wavy!

"I bleached and straightened it." I said, smiling as I toyed with a few strands. "I wanted to be someone else, anyone else, just not... Shy-Anne..." I trailed off, and my smile fell off my face. I glanced back into Anthony's eyes, and I saw sympathy. He hugged me again, but not for so long this time.

"And anyways, now I go by Lexi. It seems a little more... me."

"I know how you feel." Anthony said, wrinkling his nose. "I still live with one of my high school buddies.

I was about to blurt out "Ian?", but I stopped myself in time. The last thing I needed was for him to think that I still love my high school crush. Which was true, but he didn't need to know that.

"Hey, I really need to finish my shopping and get back home before my roomie kills me, but can I have your number? We totally need to get together some time and catch up!"

Grinning, I said, "Yeah, great idea! My number is 555-0635. Can I have yours?"

He pulled out his phone and scrunched his eyebrows together as he typed in my number. "Yeah, mine's 555-1907."

"Huh, they both start with 555!" I snicked, trying to crack a joke, but Anthony's eyes were still glued to the screen. I thought I saw a glimmer of a smile, though.

"Well, I let you get back to your shopping!" I said, sticking my phone back into my boot. "I'll text you later!"

He dragged his eyes off of his phone. "Yeah, I'll talk to you soon!" He gave me a smile as a started walking. "By the way, love the new hair!" He winked as he rounded the corner.

I smiled to myself as soon as he was out of sight. Anthony grew up to be even hotter than before, and he said he loved my hair... I reconsidered dying it, so I just grabbed some shampoo and left.

When I stepped out of the store, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. I reconsidered my life.

**Pwetty pweese leave feedback? :D**


	8. Running from Problems

**So last Friday and Saturday, my school put on a production of HONK!, and for the last few weeks we've had rehearsals until 6:00 P.M. each day, so I had NO TIME WHATSOEVER to do what I wanted. Now we're done, so I have no more rehearsals and come home at 3:00 each day. I seem to find myself with time I didn't know I had... so yesterday I kept working on this, and I got a bit done. AAAAND... I decided to put up the newest chapter today, as a treat to all of you who read and/or favorite and/or subscribe and/or comment on this! I love ya all!**

I took a deep breath and felt the sun shine in my face. The temperature was warm, warmer that earlier in the morning. After living in Ohio, I had forgotten what it was like in California.

Stepping off the curb, I shoved the bottle of shampoo into my purse. It wasn't normal to walk around carrying bottles of shampoo everywhere, and I wanted to be normal now. I had decided not to dye my hair since Anthony had said that he loved it, and it would also be hard for high school jerks to recognize me. Plus, I felt like platinum blond suited me better.

By the time I was done counting reasons to not dye my hair, I was almost back to the house where I had seen the man. I really hoped that he wasn't outside, since he saw me crash into his hedge, and embarrassment was one of the last things I needed now. I squinted through the dense leaves, trying to see if he was outside, but I was in luck. Relieved, I stood up straight and marched on, a confident smile on my face. Suddenly, that same blue cars with the golden wheels turned around the corner. Shit. My smile fell off, and I stumbled in my tall boots. This WAS the last thing I needed.

The car drove up the driveway moments before I made it to the house. I risked a glance at the car, and the same man as before stepped out of it. This time, though, his hood was down, and I could see his hair. It was a medium brown shade, swept into a slight bowl shape. He turned to me, and I saw dark brown stubble on his chin. He was wearing sunglasses so I couldn't see his eyes, but he clearly saw and recognized me, and flashed a smile. It was the same smile as I had seen that afternoon.

"Hey," he said, lifting his hand in a greeting. It took me as a complete surprise, but I managed not to stumble, thank God.

"Hey. Sorry... about your hedge..."

He smiled even wider. I could see that he had really sharp canines, which sort of scared me, but it was cute. Really cute. "Don't worry about it. I needed to trim the hedge anyways, but now you kinda pushed it back yourself!"

I had no idea how to respond to that, so I did some sort of half-giggle and kept walking. As soon as I was out of his sight, I started jogging away in embarrassment. Now he probably thinks I'm some sort of loony.

I kept jogging until I reached our new house. Slamming the door, I leaned against it, breathing hard. Why do I keep running from problems?

**GEEZ, this was shorter than I expected! :( Sorry! Meh, more will be coming soon. (Also, I haven't forgotten the one-shot that I was writing... keep an eye out for it soon!)**


	9. Ian's POV 2

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, guys!" I yelled as I turned the key. My car door clicked open as I was reminded of the girl with the blond, shiny hair. She had seemed so... curios. Maybe she had recognized me from Smosh? Probably. It would somewhat explain why I had never seen her before; I knew all the neighbors just as all the neighbors knew me.

The engine sprung to life and I dropped my hand. The house was only a few blocks away, but I needed a car to transport all the equipment and stuff back and forth. If that hadn't been the case, I would have loved to walk, or maybe even run home. Ever since the Cross Country team in High School, I haven't been able to get a lot of running in.

I turned the corner onto my street. Would the girl with the tall boots be there again? Probably not. I convinced myself to hope for her absence. I wouldn't want her to be embarrassed again, right? But part of me wanted to see her again, know her name, touch that cascading hair... I shook my head and shrugged off the thought as I reached down to turn the radio off. When I glanced back up, a pale-yellow sheet of hair practically blinded me. It was HER. Was she stalking me?

Wanting to avoid an awkward situation of waiting for the other person to pass first, I sped up and quickly drove up the driveway before she reached it.

I killed the engine with a flick of my wrist and glanced into the mirror to check my hair; still the same, slightly-bowl-shaped perfectly molded hair. Might as well throw on a pair of sunglasses, too, since flaunting my eyes wasn't a specialty of mine. Taking a second to build up my courage, I clicked open the door and stepped out, closing it firmly behind me. I took a deep breath, whirled around, and lifted my hand in greeting. "Hey," I said shakily.

Her eyes grew wide and I could see emerald irises. They were beautiful, so beautiful... too beautiful to be real? No, she was probably just special.

"Hey. Sorry... about your hedge..." she trailed off. Her voice was soft yet clear, a bit timid yet could be strong. The power surprised me, but I grinned broadly and joked, "Dont worry about it! I needed to trim the hedges anyway, but you took care of it for me!" Wow, Ian, can you get any lamer?

I guess she didn't know how to respond, so she giggled softly and continued walking. I followed her with my eyes until she was out of sight, and then smiled to myself. Something was _definitely_ familiar about her, but I had no idea what. And as I unlocked the door, I realized that I had forgotten to ask her name.


	10. Lie to Me

**Hey guyzzz! SOOO, Spring Break is this week for me, and due to my utter lack of friends (JK!), I'll have a lot of spare time. And that means... WRITING! So, expect to see a new chapter up sometime BEFORE next weekend. Also, I finished writing chapter 12 last night, and I think it's gonna be the longest chapter yet. I'll give ya a hint: It's in Ian's POV, and it's basically this chapter AND the next chapter, so it's longer than usual. :D But now, ON WITH ZE CHAPTER!**

After I caught my breath, I took a shower. It was warm, very relaxing, and gave me time to think about my life. I wondered why Anthony stayed in Sacramento these last 6 years, and why we never made contact after my family moved to Ohio. I wondered if Anthony had a job, since it was in the middle of a Wednesday. Everyone else was working in their offices, but he was out shopping, and it was too late for it to be his lunch hour.

I also thought about Ian. I barely remembered him, much less than I remembered Anthony. He had been in my English and History classes, but we only talked a few times.

"_Hey, you're Cheyenne, right?"_

"_Uh, yeah..."_

"_Could you lend me a pencil? Mine broke."_

"_Um, sure... you might need to sharpen it first, though..."_

"_Don't worry about it. I needed to stretch my legs anyway, but now you gave me a reason to."_

"_Heh..."_

I recalled that conversation I had had with him one day in English class, when he needed a pencil. Until then, I wasn't even sure if he knew I existed. But he had known my name, even if he wasn't entirely certain.

Smiling, I turned the water off, grabbed a towel, and let my mind drift to the man with the blue car. He seemed somewhat familiar, but I had no idea where I knew him from. Maybe he was in Sacramento when I still lived here? Unsure, I threw on a baby blue tank top and a pair of white booty shorts. I put in my contact lenses so I could see clearly again. I hadn't told my parents and they certainly hadn't noticed, but when I got them I asked to have a bit of color added to make my eyes a little greener. Combing my hair, I walked out into the hall, where I could hear a video playing really loudly from Sloane's room.

"_Fail science, FIRETRUCK, eat a pencil, FIRETRUCK..."_

I was about to barge into Sloane's room to tell him to turn the volume down, but I was interrupted by a knock at the door. Sighing, I threw my brush on my bed and walked to the door. Opening it, I was surprised to see the man whose hedges I killed. His back was to me, and he was sighing as he ran his hand through his brown hair. My focus shifted behind him, and I saw his blue car smushed up against the hedges lining my driveway. No way...

When he heard the door open, the man spun around and started to say something. "I'm SO sorry, but I kinda ran ove-" He stopped short as he saw my face. We stood staring at each other for a few seconds.

Suddenly, I burst out laughing. It seemed so random, but I couldn't believe it. I had walked straight into this man's hedges just that afternoon, and now he had run into _my_ hedges with his car! It was too much for me to handle, so I just kept laughing my head off. I doubled over, hands clutching my stomach, probably looking like a total idiot, but I really didn't care. I had already embarrassed myself enough in front of this guy, so a bit of crazy laughing couldn't hurt too much.

He just stood there, staring at the back of my bent-over head for a few seconds, but after I while, he slightly joined in. He giggled while I was exploding in laughter in front of him.

After a bit, I stood back up straight and wiped a tear of laughter from my eye. I thanked God that I hadn't applied mascara after my shower, or otherwise I would have had black lines running down my face right then.

"Can we call ourselves even now?" I asked, allowing a small giggle to escape from my lips.

He looked at me for a second longer, but then smiled and said "Sure!"

I noticed that when the man smiled his eyes lit up. They were a light shade of blue, almost the same color as my tank top, and they seemed so easy to get lost in. So easy to get lost in. So easy...

Realizing that I was probably staring into his eyes like some sort of maniac, I shook my head quickly and stuck out my hand. "Lexi Reiyne." I introduced myself quickly, making sure that I wouldn't be stuck with Shy-Anne again.

His smile fell from his face like a lemming over a cliff when I said that. He seemed surprised and somewhat... scared. "Reiyne..." I heard him murmur, sounding like it was the first time in forever since he had said that name. "I'm, uh, JOE!" He practically shouted at me. Funny, I was SURE I knew him from somewhere, but I didn't know any 'Joe'.

"Joseph Matts, that's my name, but you can call me Joe!" His tone of voice seemed incredibly fake, but I didn't question him. Anyways, why would he lie to me?

**:( Every time I scroll down to add my note down here, I always disappoint myself with how little I wrote... *hangs head in shame*. STILL, life goes on... I know I've been saying for a while now that I'm writing a one-shot, but I've been having writer's block. I think I'm coming close to finishing it, though, and I'll certainly put it up before the end of April, so your patience shall be rewarded! That is, if people actually want to read it... ANYWAYS, I'm also thinking of starting a MLP fanfic (don't kill me, non-bronies!), but I'll make sure that that doesn't interfere with Name's Memory. AAAND, I'm writing a story for my best friend about her and her 'one true love'... which IS based off of a true story, but IDK how 'true' it will be after a few pages. And I'm telling you this because #1. That increases my story-writing count from 3 to 4, and #2. I'm also thinking about changing up a few things and turning it into a smosh fanfic, too. Whew, long note! Brownie Points to those who read through all this bold text. :) ANYWAY, see you next Thursday! **(JK, I have no idea when I'll see you next.)** Bye! ...BITCH! (Also, to those of you who got that reference... Smoshie Points to you!) :D**


	11. Any Better

**o_O You know your weekend is full when you don't have 5 minutes to update your story. So sorry about that! AND I didn't even get a chance to update in the middle of last week. :( That's cuz I didn't work on this story much, I was working on my one-shot. Therefore, I have a surprise for you all! You get your treat at the end. :D**

"Well, _Joseph Matts_, now that we ran down each other's hedges, do you know any good landscaping companies?"

Joe seemed to relax as I dropped the topic of his name. "Nah, but I'll pay for replacing your hedge."

"No, I couldn't let you do that! I thought we agreed that this made us even."

"Well, you ran _into_ my hedge, but I ran _over_ your hedge. It looks like a pancake!" He said, turning around to look at my hedge. I grabbed the opportunity to snatch out a pocket mirror to check my face. I looked fine, just a little red from the laughing. I managed to stuff the mirror back into my pocket before Joe turned to look at me again.

"Yeah, well, now I know what I'll be eating for dinner!" I said, flashing my prize-winning smile at him. He laughed again, and just like before his eyes lit up. I felt my heart flutter against my chest, which totally took my by surprise. My brain stopped to look at what was going on in my chest, so my mouth took charge and said something before my brain could stop it.

"If you really _do_ want to make it up to me, why don't you take me out to dinner some time?" I gasped, mentally slapping myself the moment the words left my lips. WHY had I said that?

Joe didn't seem stunned at all, just nodded and smiled. "That would be a great idea! My number's 555-3315! Text me later, okay?"

"Will do! My number's 555-0653!" I yelled after him as he took off down the driveway. I smiled and tilted my head as he jumped into his car, backed out of my hedge, and kept driving down the street. He waved to me as he passed, so I waved back.

My eyes tracked Joe's car down the street until it turned the corner. Sighing in contentment, I turned to my flattened shrub. I'd have to call some landscaping company to do something about it, but at that moment I just wanted to relax.

I shut the door firmly behind me as I walked into the living room. Plopping down on the couch, I checked the screen of my phone; two new texts.

_hey chey! :) so gr8 running in2 u the store 2day! do u wanna grab some coffee 2mmorrow or smthng? ~'Tony 'Dilla_

_Good afternoon, Cheyenne Reiyne. We would like to invite you to our reunion of the '06 class graduation. It will be located at the Wilcox High School in two Saturdays, at 5:00 P.M. Dress is semi-formal. We hope to see you there. Thank you. ~The WHS Committee of Class Reunions_

I smiled at the two different writing styles of the texts. Anthony hadn't changed his style at all since high school, which was somewhat comforting to know. I quickly replied back, agreeing to his plans.

I looked at the invitation to the class reunion. It was Friday now, so it would be in 8 days. I knew I hadn't made any plans since coming to Sacramento, but did I really want to go? Sure, it would be nice to see the five or so friends I had had in school, but was it worth it to meet all those bullies again? I really didn't think so, but now I'm a new person. No more Shy-Anne. No, I was just Lexi now, and I needed to prove to them that I was a strong individual. Taking a deep breath, I replied that Cheyenne _Lexi_ Reiyne would be able to make it.

Just as I hit 'send', another text lit up my screen. It was from Joe. Surprised and entirely happy, I quickly opened it up.

_Hey Lexi! How about, instead of eating your pancake hedge tonight, I take you out to dinner?_

I beamed to myself as I read and reread the text. I've never seen a text from a guy with perfect grammar before, but it was a nice change. Suddenly, I realized something; the text didn't have a signature. Funny, everyone I knew had a signature, but why didn't Joe?

I pushed the thought to the back of my mind, deeming it entirely unimportant. I responded quickly and jumped up in delight. I found my best friend from high school, I was going to see all of my old classmates, AND I already had a date lined up! Could life get any better?

**THAT was shorter than usual. :( Meh! Anyways... I FINISHED THE ONE-SHOT! And I published it since I feel TERRIBLE for not being able to update Name's Memory this weekend! Link: .net/s/7982151/1/Heart_1. Enjoy, leave feedback, favorite it, and all that jazz! :D But don't subscribe, since it's just a one-shot. I know the title's a bit misleading when it comes to whether there will be more or not, but the title will explain itself. :) You guys are the ones who motivate me to keep writing this, and I really appreciate all the feedback! See you later! **


	12. Ian's POV 3

**WOOOH, LONGEST CHAPTER YET! 1,162 words NOT including this author's note, which is more than Chapter 7, which had 1,013 words WITH an authors note! OoO With no further ado, enjoy!**

After sitting at my computer for a half hour still trying to edit Ian is Bored, I got a text from Anthony.

_hey man cn u pick me up charless house i walked thr 2 play xbox after shoping_

I sighed and slept my computer, grabbing my car keys again. Why couldn't he just walk here too?

I started up the car and drove down a few streets. Charles's house was a few streets down this way... or was it that way? I turned my car to the right but swiveled my head to the left, trying to figure out which way to go until...

My car crashed into a hedge. It was a small hedge, so it got flattened but my car was fine. Sitting stunned for a few seconds, I decided to get out and tell the owner of the hedge what had happened. Would they be forgiving?

As I stepped out of the car and walked up the driveway, I noticed a FOR SALE sign in the lawn. A SOLD tag was slapped onto the SALE, so maybe this house was empty... probably not, though. I shook my head, lifted my hand, and rapped my knuckles on the wooden door. It didn't open immediately, so I turned around to look at the damage I had done. It still didn't seem too bad, but I'd probably have to pay to get the hedge fixed. I ran my hand through my hair and sighed, when I heard the door creak open behind me. Spinning around, I started to say, "I'm SO sorry, but I kinda ran ove-" and stopped short, as I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was the same girl who had ran into MY hedge just an hour or two earlier.

After staring at each other for what seemed like minutes, she suddenly burst out laughing. It seemed so random, but I could understand it. She had walked straight into my hedges just that afternoon, and now I had run into _her_ hedges with my car! Her laughing got crazier and crazier, so I couldn't help bit laugh along a bit. After a while, she stood back up straight and wiped a tear of laughter from her eye. Once again, they seemed unnaturally green, but it was pretty...

"Can we call ourselves even now?" She asked, letting a giggle escape again.

I looked at her for a second longer, but then smiled and said "Sure!" After I said that, she started staring into my eyes. What...? She slightly shook her head and blinked a few times. Had she finally recognized me? She didn't show any other signs of it.

"Lexi Reiyne." she introduced herself quickly.

My smile ran from my face. It couldn't be... could it? The girl from high school who I had loved deeply for three years but never had the guts to tell her? No, she had had beautiful, wavy, chestnut-colored hair that fell nearly to her waist. This girl's hair was platinum blond, perfectly straight, and fell just past her shoulder blades. It was just as beautiful, though. And her face... her gorgeous face had stayed the same, but her eyes were greener, I was sure out it. Maybe she had gotten colored contacts? Probably, since she had worn glasses in school. It was her, now I knew for sure. "Reiyne..." I murmur incredibly softly, saying the name for the first time in seven years. Did she remember me? I doubted it, and for some reason I didn't want her opinion of me to be based off of high school. I quickly decided to use a fake name. "I'm, uh, JOE!" I practically shouted at her. She would probably figure out my real name, but hopefully not for some time.

"Joseph Matts, that's my name, but you can call me Joe!" I hoped my voice sounded convincing. Trying to help the lie along, I plastered a smile onto my face.

She looked at me for a few seconds longer, but then said, "Well, Joseph Matts, now that we ran down each other's hedges, do you know any good landscaping companies?"

I relaxed as she dropped the subject of my name. She bought it!

"Nah, but I'll pay for replacing your hedge."

"No, I couldn't let you do that! I thought we agreed that this made us even."

"Well, you ran _into_ my hedge, but I ran _over_ your hedge. It looks like a pancake!" I said, turning around to look at the hedge. It didn't really, but I didn't want the light, joking mood to end. She wasn't nearly as shy as she had been earlier today, and the last thing I wanted was my precious Lexi to be uncomfortable again. I turned back around to look at her.

"Yeah, well, now I know what I'll be eating for dinner!" she exclaimed, smiling brightly. Her warm expression stirred something within me, and it made me laugh.

"If you really _do_ want to make it up to me, why don't you take me out to dinner some time?" she suggested. Wait- WHAT? As far as I knew, she believed that the first time we met was just a few hours ago, and she was already thinking about dinner! I didn't want to seem surprised for whatever reason, so I just smiled and responded. "That would be a great idea! My number's 555-3315! Text me later, okay?" Well, if she could ask me to dinner the day we met, why couldn't I give her my number the same day too? And, after all, we've technically known each other for more than six years.

"Will do! My number's 555-0653!" Lexi yelled after me as I started heading back towards my car. I climbed in, backed out of her hedge, and continued down the street. I glanced out the window and saw her still standing in the doorway, so I waved to her. She waved back and kept watching me until I turned the corner.

After several minutes, I managed to find Charles's house and pulled into the driveway. Stepping out of my car, I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and texted Anthony to let him now I was here. Remembering that I needed to save Lexi's number, I saved it to my contacts and quickly opened a new message.

_Hey Lexi! How about, instead of eating your pancake hedge tonight, I take you out to dinner?_

I knew that it was a little rushed, but she hadn't exactly taken her time to suggest going out to dinner either. Moments before I was about to hit 'send', I realized that I needed to turn off my signature. What would Lexi think if she got a text from _Ian HecOXOXO_, sent from Joe Matts's phone? Quickly deactivating my signature, I sent the text to Lexi's number.

Sighing in content, I pocketed my phone and sat cross-legged on the hood of my car, staring at Charles's front door.

**Didja enjoy it? Huh? Huh? HUH? Anyways, I hope you all got a chance to read my new one-shot, Heart: 1. If you read it, please leave feedback, and if you didn't, read it and _then_ leave feedback! I'd really appreciate it! Until next time, smoshers! Oh, and one more thing... this Friday, I stayed at home hoping I could catch Lunchtime with Smosh, and around, like, 12:15 (3:15 where I live) or so, I randomly opened my twitter just for shits and giggles, and LUNCHTIME WITH SMOSH STARTED 3 MINUTES AGO! Ah, my lucky day! :) So I freaked, thought of a really corny question, sent it, thought of another corny question, sent it, and crossed my fingers. Let's see if one of them gets answered! It would be on the episode with, apparently, Mari, so we shall see, my little minions! JK. My jokes are fails, are they not? Anywho, for real this time, UNTIL NEXT TIME, SMOSHERS!**


	13. Evening of Enjoyment

**"Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection... the lovers, the dreamers, and meeeeee..."**

**Sorry, that's the song I'm listening to right now... "All of us under its spell, we know that it's probably maaaaagiiiiiic..." I love that song! Anyways, this is the longest chapter yet! It's even longer than Heart: 1! (And if you haven't read it, go read it. :D) And I hope you enjoy it... this chapter goes a bit more into what happened to Cheyenne in high school.**

Happily, I took off my clothes and jumped into the shower. Anticipating what would happen that evening, I contemplated what I would talk about with Joe. Not wanting it to get very awkward, I decided to talk about myself for the first half of the evening. Where I came from, where I went to school, what I did for a living, why I was here... I would simply leave out the details of High School. Yes, High School was the one subject I would completely avoid. For the second half of the evening, it would be all about Joe. We would talk about the same things that we did about me, but I'm sure his High School experience would be better than mine.

As I climbed out of the shower and threw on a semi-casual, mahogany colored cami and another pair of short white shorts, I realized that I had just taken two showers within thirty minutes of each other. Meh...

"MY FANNY PACK, MY FANNY PACK IS ALL I NEED!" What was Sloane listening to _now_? Angrily, I burst into Sloane's room. He was sitting in his chair, eyes glued to a YouTube video playing on his monitor.

"SLOANE! Turn it down before our new neighbors think we're deaf! We need to make good first impr-" I stopped short as I saw what was on his screen. It was Anthony, dressed in lime green shorts and a matching shirt, covered in a short denim jacket. He was wearing a hot pink baseball cap with sunglasses on top, but the worst part was that he was in a park, spinning around while holding up a hot pink fanny pack. What the...

"Sloane, what in the world are you watching?" I asked, wide eyes still glued to Anthony.

"Oh, this is a video by two guys named smosh, they've been making videos since, like, 2005, and this is their video about fan-"

"That's Anthony Padilla."

"Oh, so you know him already?"

"Sloane, I went to school with him."

Sloane just looked at me. "Wait, so that Anthony that you were always talking about six years ago, that's _him_?"

"I guess."

"Lex, you were _best friends_ with an internet star!"

"A star? He never said anything about that this afternoon..."

"Wait - you MET HIM AGAIN?"

"Yeah, when I went down to the store!"

"He lives here in Sacramento? _Wicked_! Didja get his number?"

"Yeah, Sloane, but I need to go get ready. I'm going on a date tonight."

"With Anthony!"

"No, idiot!" I gently punched Sloane's arm. "If he really _is_ a star, he'd already have a girlfriend. No, I met this guy going to and coming back from the store. His name's Joe Matts, he's really nice, so I expect you to _not_ embarrass me in front of him."

Sloane slowly got out of his chair and put a wicked grin on his face. "Whatever you say, Lex, whatever you say..."

I glared at him as I left his room. Sighing, I walked into the bathroom, placed my hands on the edge of the sink, leaned forward, and stared at myself in the mirror.

I observed each flaw, from my messy eyelashes to the slight curve of my nose. All flaws were small, practically unnoticeable, but I hated them all the same. Gently lifting a bit of hair from above my right ear, I stared at the two-inch-long scar from high school. I hadn't told my parents about it, so I couldn't go to a doctor to help my head. Even though it had been six years ago, I still remembered that day clearly...

_I slammed my locker shut and turned to Anthony, who was waiting next to me. He was facing the courtyard, staring at a girl from our Biology class. I softly laughed to myself before speaking._

_"Ready?" I said loudly, snapping Anthony out of his trance. His head jerked up and he kicked the locker behind him, propelling his body to standing up right. "Or do you want stand here and stare at Bridget longer?"_

_"Could you say that again? I don't think the whole school heard you!" he said sarcastically, glaring at me._

_I laughed again. "C'mon, Padilla-Tortilla. Let's get going"_

_"Actually, Chey, I think I'll stay after school for conferences."_

_"Oh, really? For which classroom, the courtyard?" I snorted, glancing back at Bridget._

_"Ha ha, really funny, Shy-Anne!" he said, shooting me another playful glare._

_My smile dropped from my face. Whirling around to face Anthony, I spat, "Don't ever call me that."_

_He backed up against a locker and said, "I'm sorry, Chey, I didn't mean to, you know that." He glanced uneasily to his side._

_I glared a few seconds longer and then simply stated, "Don't you have a conference to go to, Antonio?"_

_"Uh, yeah!" He sped off like a bullet as I spun back around and pushed the door open. Stomping into the parking lot, I was so mad I didn't even notice the three guys coming my way until it was too late for me to run away._

_"Hey guys, look what we have here!" one guy said, grabbing my hair before I could escape._

_"Aww, it's Shy-Anne!" said another, flashing a crooked smile as I struggled against the grip of the dirty hand tangled in my hair._

_"And this time, she doesn't have Mr. Mexico to protect her!" the third sneered, pulling a small knife out of his pocket. I gasped at the sight of it._

_"Well, well, well, it seems as though this time, your face WILL gets its makeover!" laughed the first, grabbing the knife out of his companion's hand and raising it to my cheek. I was on the verge of tears, but I couldn't let it show. Clenching my teeth together, I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the pain._

_Suddenly, a voice said, "Let her go." My eyes shot open and the man holding my hair whirled around, dragging me with him. It was Ian. Holding a geometry textbook. And anyone who goes to Wilcox High knows that geometry textbooks hurt a lot._

_"I said, let her go." Ian threatened, slowly raising the textbook above his shoulder._

_"Relax, man, you know we were just playing with her." commented the man as he lifted the knife from my cheek, slowly backing away._

_"Hardly." said Ian, with a perfect poker face._

_The men were still backing away, but just as I was about to breath a sigh of relief, the first man grabbed my wrist and pulled me close before Ian had time to react. "Next time, your boyfriend won't be here to protect you!" he snarled and flicked the knife up, cutting my head right behind my ear. I gasped as I collapsed on concrete, feeling the sticky blood flowing behind my ear as the men ran away._

_Throwing the textbook to the side, Ian slowly starting to approach me, but I scrambled back while holding my hand to my ear. I managed to catch my balance and stood up, world swimming before my eyes. I stumbled backwards and turned to run, tears finally escaping my eyes. Just as the first drop fell, I heard Ian yell after me, "Wait!", but I didn't._

_I ran until I collapsed beside a lake about a mile from the school. Releasing the contents of my stomach into the tall grass beside the lake, I slowly reviewed what had just happened and what I would do about the cut behind my ear. I obviously couldn't tell my parents about it, so I just decided to sneak into the house and clean the blood out of my hair before my parents saw the cut._

_The next day at school, I was completely unattached to the world and barely spoke. I didn't even tell Anthony what had happened, despite his constant questions. It wouldn't matter anyway, though. Anthony couldn't help me now._

I blinked a few times as the memory ended, pursing my lips together in concentration. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tightened my grip on the edge of the sink until my knuckles became as white as my hair. Only then did I slowly release my grip.

Realizing Joe would be here in about 20 minutes, I quickly applied some eyeliner to my waterline and straightened my hair to perfection. Glancing in the mirror one last time, I flashed a huge grin and ran out of the bathroom.

Creeping up to Sloane's door, I heard some sniffle noises but knew it wasn't Sloane. I've never heard him cry before, and he would never _ever_ cry if he knew someone else was in the house.

I slowly pushed open the door to his bedroom, planning on scaring Sloane. As I peeked around the door, I saw something on his monitor again which made me gasp. I pushed the door open all the way as Sloane glanced at me in the corner of his eye.

"Is that Anthony again?" I asked as I rushed to Sloane's side. He paused the video at an image of Anthony lying on the ground shirtless and a rag of cloth tied around his head, looking like he was about to eat a handful of dirt. Ew, much?

"Uh, yeah. This is 'Driving me Crazy'. It's one of my favorites."

"Why... is he shirtless? On the ground? Eating dirt?"

"He's going to his house to get help to save Ia-" Sloane cut off as the doorbell rang. I jumped up and ran to the door, glancing into the mirror hanging in the hallway for a quick second. Feeling confident, I strutted over to the door and opened it.

Joe was standing in the doorway with his hands in his pockets, a goofy grin on his face. His eyes were just as clear as I remembered them, a perfect shade of blue...

"Hey, Cheyenne! Ready to go?" Joe asked, taking his hands out of his pockets. Something in my mind suddenly didn't feel right when he said my name. What was it?

"Uh, yeah, let me just grab my purse!" I responded, pushing the thought away as I walked back in and grabbed my purse off the kitchen counter.

"Yo, Joe!" Sloane yelled from his bedroom. "If you hurt my sister, I'll make sure you'll regret it!"

I rolled my eyes and mouthed 'sorry' to Joe. He smiled and yelled to Sloane, "Don't worry, I won't!"

"Let's go!" I giggled, shutting the door behind me. Joe led me to his blue car, and I examined the front of it for scratches. "I see my hedge didn't hurt your car."

"Nah..." Joe responded, opening his door. "Your hedge got murdered, though. Sorry about that!"

I walked to the car door. "It's fine. I really didn't like that hedge to begin with, anyway."

Joe just laughed and got in, smiling up at me. I grinned back and got in too, looking forward to an evening of enjoyment.

**Inspirational Story Time: I wrote the beginning of this chapter in school, and I carried it in the front of my planner, and our planners have a little window in the front. So for weeks I was carrying my planner around, and the only thing you could see through the little window was "Happily, I took off my clothes". Many people stared at me strangely. It was awkward.**


	14. This was Home

**I just realized this this whole story so far has only taken place in one day... meh! Anyway, this last week was SOO hectic for me, between playing ball with my sister, thinking of a huge English paper, thinking of a HUGE history project, math homework every day including a packet we had to do all week and was due friday, a spanish test on Thursday which I probably bombed, writing an entire Science textbook on space, finishing two drawing for art class, book club on Wednesday for 45 minutes, flute lessons on Wednesday for 45 minutes, soccer practices on Tuesday and Thursday (each 1 hour and 30 minutes long), and preparing for the OAAs (Ohio Achievement Assessment) that will be happening next Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for English, Math and Science, each 2 hours and 30 minutes long. Sounds like fun, right? So I haven't really had time to keep working on this story, and I'm falling behind (I'm still writing the next chapter), so the next chapter will be very short. UNLESS... I decide to write this chapter in Ian's POV, which I think I'll do, in which case Ian's POV will come next weekend, and writing the same chapter in a different POV is always easier than writing a new chapter. Plus, I'll have an extra (but still short) chapter for the weekend after the next. And now that I'm done ranting about how horrible my life is (JK, I know I have it easier than lots of people), enjoy this chapter!**

We reached a small Italian restaurant within ten minutes and got our seats. Joe smiled as we sat down across from each other.

"So, Cheyenne," he started. The strange feeling in my mind came back as he said my name. "Did you just move to Sacramento?"

"Yeah. I came with my parents and Sloane, my brother, but my parents left for Antarctica as soon as we got here, leaving me to take care of Sloane by myself."

"Wow, really?"

"Yeah, but I'm fine. I'm 24, so I just need to get a job or something, and Sloane's 17, so he can basically take care of himself."

"I see." Joe nodded and took his menu. After observing it for a few seconds, he ordered a Sprite.

"I'll have the same." I smiled, giving the menu back to the waiter. He slightly bowed and left our table. I turned back to Joe.

"I actually lived here in Sacramento for my childhood, but seven years ago my family moved to Ohio."

"Why did you move?" Joe asked, ripping off a piece of bread and dipping it in the olive oil.

I sighed quietly when he asked that. I really didn't want to tell him about school, so I simply said, "My parents thought change would be good for us." I wasn't exactly telling the truth, but I wasn't lying at all either.

Joe nodded as he swallowed a piece of his bread. "And what was high school like for you?"

My heart froze. Why would he ask that? Could he know what happened in high school? No, he couldn't. But truly, what was the harm of telling him about it? Maybe it would be good for me; someone to talk to when I just couldn't get memories of high school out of my head. He looked up and I saw in his eyes how much he wanted to know. Why would he be that interested? Oh well, doesn't matter now. Here goes.

"Terrible." I responded, squeezing my eyes shut. When I opened them, I expected Joe to look a bit surprised, but he wasn't at all. He just looked sad for me.

"I'm sorry, Lexi. I really didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

I shook my head. "No, it's okay, it's fine. I just haven't ever told anyone how bad high school was for me, not even my parents. But now I think it would be good for me to share."

Joe rested his chin in his hands and looked up at me. "Did you have problems with jerks?" he asked, and I swore his eyes flicked up to my ear. _How did he know_? No, no, it was just my imagination. It had to be.

Swallowing, I quickly responded, "Yeah." and grabbed a piece of bread. "But I had a best friend who helped me. And the one time he wasn't around to protect me, another guy was, so I was fine. Mostly..." I trailed off and lowered my eyes, putting my piece of bread back on my plate. Right then, the waiter came with our drinks, and we both ordered our food.

"So, was this other guy your friend, too?" Joe asked, taking a sip of his Sprite. Oh God, he was asking about Ian now. What should I say? Ian wasn't exactly a friend of mine, but he wasn't just anyone. Despite being the focus of my love, Ian had practically saved my life just by showing up it a parking lot with a textbook, and I didn't want to just shrug him off. But I couldn't just tell Joe all about Ian, since we were technically on a date right now. Oh, what should I say?

"Umm... no... not really... but he was very... er... important... to me." I stuttered out. Noticing how awkward I made it, I started coughing and took a gulp of my Sprite. Once I finished, Joe just looked at me and smiled.

"It's alright, you can tell me. Trust is important in relationships." Joe said and grasped my hand tightly for a second before letting go again. What on earth was that all about? And it seemed familiar, somehow... what was I talking about? I'm crazy. I'm loony. I've lost it. How can touching my hand be familiar?

I literally kicked myself under the table. Did I really just start babbling in my head? Wow, Lex, you've hit an all-time low now. I started focusing on what Joe had said. He wanted me to talk about Ian? Well hey, the man asked, and I might as well take the opportunity!

I sighed. "His name was Ian. He never noticed me, barely acknowledged me, rarely talked to me, but he was important. And he saved my life.

"There was this one day when I was leaving school. I usually walked home with my best friend, but we had just had a fight over something stupid, so I had to go home alone. Bad idea.

"I was just storming through the parking lot and these three jerk came up to me and grabbed me. One of them even pulled out a knife." I almost teared up at this part, but stayed strong and continued my story. "They threatened me and were just about to cut me, but out of nowhere, Ian showed up with a textbook, and those things _hurt_!" I giggled after that, glad that I could drive away my tears. "So the guys ran away, but not before they gave me this."

I slightly leaned over the table and pulled my hair away from behind my ear. Soon, I felt Joe's finger lightly tracing the scar. When he pulled his finger back, I let my hair go and sat up straight again.

"So I guess they did hurt me, but if it weren't for Ian, I probably wouldn't still be alive." I concluded and took another piece of bread from the basket.

After taking a bite I realized Joe hadn't said anything since he asked about Ian. I swallowed and looked up at him. He had his chin in both of his hands and was looking up at me with tears in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Lexi..." he whispered.

I looked at him for a few seconds. He _had_ to be joking but he looked so earnest... "Joe, it's fine! I'm fine, see? All I got was this small scar. And besides, you weren't there, so it's not like you could have done anything, right?" I took another bite of my bread, hoping I would make Joe feel better, but all he did was look away uneasily. I shrugged it off and put my bread back on my plate.

Suddenly, Joe's head shot up and he stared at the exit of the restaurant. I was about to turn to see what he was looking at, but before I had the chance to Joe stood up. "I, uh, need to go to the restroom..." he trailed off, eyes still locked on something behind me. "I'll be right back." he muttered quickly and walked past me.

I just shrugged and took another bite of my bread. Just as I swallowed, the waiter came back with our food. "Oh, I am sorry, madam, this must be for another table." he apologized as he glanced at the two dishes on his arm, about to be served to one person.

"No, that's our food. My date went to the restroom." I responded, smiling. He quickly put the two dishes on the table and left to refill our basket of bread. I put my napkin on my lap, waiting for Joe to return to our table.

Moments later, Joe slid up to our table. "Cheyenne, sorry I took so long!" My mind flinched again as he said my name. What was that? "But I met a friend and we stopped to say hello. Lexi, this is Anthony!"

I whirled around and stood up at the same time, making me dizzy but not too dizzy to see Anthony Padilla's face. "A-Anthony?" I stuttered, trying to regain my balance. I almost fell back to the seat, but Joe quickly leaned over and grabbed my arm, steadying me.

Anthony broke out into a dazzling smile. "Lexi! Long time, no see!" he joked, gently punching my arm. "I just came in to reserve a table for tomorrow, when I saw I- Joe, and he wanted me to meet someone. I had no idea it was you!"

Joe looked at us, seeming slightly surprised. "You guys know each other?"

I mirrored Anthony's smile as I kept looking at him. "Yeah, we used to go to high school together! In fact," I commented, glancing at Joe, "He was my best friend."

Joe realized that it was Anthony who I had briefly mentioned earlier that evening. "Best friends, huh? You guys were rather close?" he asked, smiling strangely.

Anthony sort of glared at him, but then smiled back at me. "Well, I'll leave you two alone... I'll see you tomorrow, Ia- JOE!" he said loudly as he walked away. How did he get Joe's name wrong? Twice? I thought they were friends?

Joe sat down and smiled as Anthony walked out of view. "Sorry about that. I didn't know he was the best friend that you were talking about earlier!"

"Yeah... I haven't seen him since I left Sacramento, but I met him again in the grocery store this afternoon."

"I see..." Joe responded, nodding his head. He picked up his fork and started eating.

We remained silent for the next five minutes, by which time our meals were more than half over. Suddenly, I remembered about my conversation plan I had created earlier in the shower.

"So, Joe," I started, setting my fork down for a bit. "Where are you from?"

Joe swallowed his food and set his fork down to, looking uneasily to the side. "Oh... I'm from, uh... Sacramento..."

I sat up straight as he said that. "Oh, really? I knew I had seen you before! Which high school did you go to?"

"Er... I don't remember..."

"Well, it wasn't Wilcox High, was it? There weren't any 'Joe's there."

"Uh, yeah, I don't think it was Wilcox..."

His reluctance to answer questions about his high school seemed to be growing, so I decided to turn it away from _what_ high school to _in_ high school.

"So..." I said slyly, leaning forward and resting my chin in my hands. "Any cute girls at your old high school?"

Joe looked at me but quickly brought his eyes down again, muttering "Yeah, one."

I reached over and grabbed his hand; it startled him and he quickly looked up at me again. "Joe, I told you about Ian because I trust you. Please, trust me. Tell me about this mystery girl." I smiled and pulled my hand back again.

Joe sighed and looked me in the eyes. "I - don't remember her name... but she was amazing, the most beautiful girl I had ever seen then. She was really shy, yet really nice, and was always willing to help someone, even if they weren't her friend. We weren't close, though, and she moved away before high school ended."

I just kept looking him in the eyes for a bit longer, then slowly said, "I moved away before high school ended too..."

Joe laughed nervously. "Heh, what a coincidence! Anyway, this restaurant is really good, don't you think?"

What was all that about? And what is the chance of that coincidence happening? Well, it didn't really matter. It happened anyway. I squinted my eyes at Joe a bit longer, but then cleared my throat and picked up my fork again. "Yeah, it's a nice place!" I complimented, looking around the place.

We finished our meal in almost complete silence for the next three minutes, and we got up after Joe paid the bill.

Stepping into the cool night air, I sighed a happy sigh. The Californian night air was one of the things I missed the most when I moved to Ohio. The air here was crisp and cleared out the lungs, filling you with the feelings of belonging. Though I had enjoyed Ohio, I knew this was home.

**I think this chapter has had more dialogue in it than any other... but that's a good thing, right? Ish? Oh, and I did that thingy where if some person is ranting and the same bit of dialogue continues to the next paragraph, you don't end the paragraph with quotation marks to signify that the person is still talking. I used that when Cheyenne was explaining to Ian/Joe what happened in the parking lot. Just telling you guys, in case it was a bit confusing. Oh, one more thing... My twitter questions didn't get answered, but yesterday I managed to ask another (56 minutes after Anthony asked for them, but who knows how long it takes to sit in a drive though...), so we shall see if they answered this one in a few weeks! See ya next weekend!**


	15. Ian's POV 4

**_You have reached the 15 document limit. Please convert you existing documents to stories and/or chapters before uploading more. _O_O Well, screw you too! JK... but I just had to delete a bunch of chapters off of here... :( Well, they didn't really matter anymore, so meh... anyways, here is Ian's POV... actually, this is only half of it, since I thought that I found a really good ending place, so yah. You get the rest next weekend. :) BTW, I actually completely proofread this chapter (out loud), so I hope there are less mistakes in here. It pains me to find mistakes in previous chapters, but I knew this chapter would have TONS of mistakes since whenever I do Ian's POV, I just copy and paste the chapter from Lexi's POV and then rewrite each piece as it would be out of Ian's eyes. I found plenty of 'I's that should be 'she's, 'he's that should be 'I's, 'my's that should be 'hers', and so on, so forth. ENJOY!** **Oh, and one last thing to clear up any and all confusion about who is who... her name is Cheyenne Alexandra Reyine, but she hates Alexandra so she uses Lexi instead. In the past, she went by Cheyenne, but people called her Shy-Anne, so now she usually (but not always) goes by Lexi. Anthony's nickname for her is Chey, and Ian uses both Cheynne and Lexi. In conclusion, Cheyenne and Lexi are the same person. :) ENJOY!**

As Lexi's house came in view, I took a deep breath. I was going to spend the whole evening with the girl I had loved for 6 years. Sure, I had had girlfriends along the way, but I hadn't loved any of them as much as I loved Cheyenne.

I parked my car near the bottom of the driveway and stepped out. As I walked towards the front door, I glanced behind me to see that the flattened hedge hadn't been moved yet.

I rang the doorbell and then leaned against the frame. Shoving my hands in my pockets, I waited for a few seconds before Lexi quickly opened the door. She was wearing a chestnut brownish reddish cami, about the same color her hair used to be, and another pair of really short white shorts. She was beautiful.

"Hey, Cheyenne! Ready to go?" I asked as I took my hands out of my pockets. A flash of confusion passed through her eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came... I must have imagined it.

"Uh, yeah, let me just grab my purse!" she replied as she walked back into her house and grabbed her purse off the counter. I looked around for a few seconds; her house looked almost the same as mine.

Suddenly, I heard someone yell from a bedroom inside the home. "Yo, Joe! If you hurt my sister, I'll make sure you'll regret it!" Well, I see that Lexi already told her brother about me. What was his name again... Sloane?

Cheyenne rolled my eyes and mouthed 'sorry' to me. I just smiled back and yelled to Sloane, "Don't worry, I won't!"

Lexi laughed and quickly shut the door, giggling "Let's go!"

I walked towards my car and saw her checking the hood. "I see my hedge didn't hurt your car," she observed, looking up at me.

"Nah..." I responded, opening my door. "Your hedge got murdered, though. Sorry about that!"

"It's fine. I really didn't like that hedge to begin with, anyway." Lexi commented as she walked to the passenger door and opened it.

I laughed and got in, smiling up at her. She grinned back and got in too, closing the door firmly.

Within ten minutes, we reached a small Italian restaurant that had been built after Lexi moved away. I had only been there a few times, but the food was really good.

"So, Cheyenne," I began after we got our seats. "Did you just move to Sacramento?"

She took a second to reply, as that flash of confusion entered her eyes again. "Yeah. I came with my parents and Sloane, my brother, but my parents left for Antarctica as soon as we got here, leaving me to take care of Sloane by myself." she said slowly.

"Wow, really?"

"Yeah, but I'm fine. I'm 24, so I just need to get a job or something, and Sloane's 17, so he can basically take care of himself."

"I see." I nodded as the waiter came with our menus. I already knew that I wanted to order a sprite, but I waited a few seconds so Cheyenne would have a moment to think.

"I'll have the same." she order after I had asked for a sprite and gave the menu back to the waiter. Once he went back to the restaurant's kitchen, Lexi turned back to me.

"I actually lived here in Sacramento for my childhood, but seven years ago my family moved to Ohio."

"Why did you move?" I asked as I dipped a piece of bread into the olive oil at our table. I already knew the answer.

She sighed quietly. "My parents thought change would be good for us."

I swallowed my piece of bread before asking, "And what was high school like for you?" I regretted it a moment later, realizing that she probably wouldn't want to talk about it.

"Terrible." she responded after a few moments, squeezing her eyes shut. I knew that too, but I just wanted to hear her opinion of our high school in her own words.

When she opened her eyes again, I quietly said, "I'm sorry, Lexi. I really didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

Cheyenne shook her head before replying, "No, it's okay, it's fine. I just haven't ever told anyone how bad high school was for me, not even to my parents. But now I think it would be good for me to share."

I rested my chin in my hands and looked up at her. "Did you have problems with jerks?" I asked. I realized I probably shouldn't have asked that either, but I wanted to know if she remembered that day in the parking lot, where she got cut behind her right ear...

She swallowed quietly. "Yeah. But I had a best friend who helped me. And the one time he wasn't around to protect me, another guy was, so I was fine. Mostly..." she trailed off and lowered her eyes, placing her piece of bread on her plate. She mentioned Ian. She mentioned _me_, though she didn't know it. She remembered that day.

Moments later, the waiter came with our drinks, and we ordered our food.

"So, was this other guy your friend, too?" I asked as I took a sip of my Sprite. I knew that if I were going to slip up tonight, it would be now.

She took a long time before she stuttered, "Umm... no... not really... but he was very... er... important... to me." Suddenly, she started coughing violently and quickly took a gulp of her sprite. After a few seconds, she was fine again and I smiled at her.

"It's alright, you can tell me. Trust is important in relationships." I said quietly, grasping her hand for a second before letting go. She flinched for a moment and turned a shade paler, not moving for several seconds. She was starting to scare me, for she hadn't even taken a breath in the last ten seconds.

Out of nowhere, she jumped a bit and then sighed. I had never seen anyone do that before... "His name was Ian. He never noticed me, barely acknowledged me, rarely talked to me, but he was important. And he saved my life." Woah woah woah, saved her life? Um, no. I didn't. I may have stopped her from getting cut up even more, but I hadn't saved her life... had I?

She continued her story. "There was this one day when I was leaving school. I usually walked home with my best friend, but we had just had a fight over something stupid, so I had to go home alone. Bad idea.

"I was just storming through the parking lot and these three jerks came up to me and grabbed me. One of them even pulled out a knife. They threatened me and were just about to cut me, but out of nowhere, Ian showed up with a textbook, and those things _hurt_!" she giggled after that, but I was feeling terrible. I knew all of this, but hearing her say it was having an even greater effect on me. "So the guys ran away, but not before they gave me this."

Cheyenne leaned over the table and gently pulled her hair away from above her ear. I knew what I was about to see, but I really didn't want to... if I had defended her better, she wouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place. I glanced back up to her head and saw the two-inch long scar running down the side of her scalp. I lifted my finger and slowly traced it, remembering the blood that had flown from that spot eight years earlier. I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. When I brought my hand back under my chin, she let her long hair fall back in place and resumed her seat.

"So I guess they did hurt me, but if it weren't for Ian, I probably wouldn't still be alive." she concluded and took another piece of bread from the basket.

After she took a bite of her bread, she looked up at me with her brilliant green eyes. I didn't know what to say, so I just whispered, "I'm so sorry, Lexi..."

She glanced at me with an 'are you serious' look in her eyes. "Joe, it's fine! I'm fine, see? All I got was this small scar. And besides, you weren't there, so it's not like you could have done anything, right?" Oh, if only she knew I was and I could have... I just looked uneasily to the side, trying to avoid eye contact, but what I saw in that moment scared me half to death. It was Anthony.

***gaspeth* CLIFFHANGER! No, not really, you already know what'll happen... sorta. And BTW, I know when I want this story to end, and I (roughly) know how it's going to end, but I don't know how much will happen in between, nor how many more chapters there will be. I think it's safe to say, though, that there will be AT LEAST 20 chapters. Soo... BYE!**


	16. Ian's POV 5

**I'm SOOOOO tiiiired... just had a soccer game 1 1/2 hours away, and it was hot, and one of our players got hurt, and we only had one sub, and there were flies DOMINATING the field, and the field was completely uneven... I'm tired. Anyway, there was something I wanted to say about this sto- oh, I remember! I switched the date of the reunion from in 2 Saturdays to next Saturday, soo... yah. I felt like it. I'm still tired. And my 17-year-old sister, LOVES One Direction (which is a bit creepy), and now I'm kinda hooked on them to, sooooo... I might be writing a fanfic about them in the future, too. I know I told you guys I'd be writing that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, but now that season 2 is over and there won't be any new episodes till the fall, I****'m not very motivated for it anymore... so yah. Enjoy.**

I didn't know what to do. Anthony was here. And he would see us. And he would tell Lexi that I'm Ian. That would ruin everything.

I jumped out of my seat, trying to think of a way to get out before he could see us. I realized, though, that the only way to stop the problem from biting me is to bite it first. "I, uh, need to go to the restroom... I'll be right back." I muttered to Lexi, my eyes still locked on Anthony talking to a waitress near the exit.

I slid over to Anthony and tapped him on the shoulder, quickly glancing behind me to make sure Lexi wasn't watching. When Anthony turned and saw me, he just said "Hey..."

and turned back to his waitress. But when he saw the look in my eyes, he flashed an apologetic smile at her and whispered, "I'll be right back" before returning to me.

"What?" Anthony muttered, clearly upset that I had dragged him away from his cute waitress.

"Anthony, I need you to do something for me. Or rather, _not_ do something."

"What is it?" he asked, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Well, do you remember Cheyenne Reiyne? You know, Shy-Anne?"

His eyes lit up. "Oh, yeah, man! I forgot to tell you, she's back in town!"

I was entirely surprised. How could he already know? Had he already talked her? Did he already mention me? If he did, my plan was ruined. My idea was already so fragile; if Cheyenne watches a single smosh video, or if she googles smosh, or if she googles Ian Hecox, or if she even googles Anthony Padilla, or if someone tells her about smosh or me, or if she looks at our old yearbooks and makes the connection... Well, it would all come crumbling down. "What? How do you know?" I asked Anthony, hoping against hope that he didn't tell Lexi about me.

"When I went to the store this morning, she was there, and we exchanged numbers. Oh, did you know she bleached her hair? And she straightened it, too."

"Yeah, I know..."

"Oh, so you've seen her too? Do you still have that crush on her, Ian?"

"I... I think so... but Anthony, you need to listen to me. We're on a date right now. She's sitting over there, waiting for me to come back."

Anthony leaned over to look at her, but I pushed him back straight.

"And she doesn't know that I'm Ian."

"What!" Anthony whispered-yelled, turning his brown eyes back to mine.

"Yeah, so whatever you do, _don't _tell her. I told her I was named _Joe Matts_, and she believes it. I don't want her opinion of me to be based on High School.

"Dude, you need to tell her. She'll figure it out anyway, and it's better to hear it from you instead of anyone else. What about the High School Reunion this Saturday? What are you gonna do, not go?"

"I don't know, yet... but either way, you're coming with me to talk to Lexi for a few minutes. And whatever you do, don't mention Ian Hecox. I'm Joe Matts now."

"I don't think you should do it, man..."

"I could very easily tell that waitress about Kalel... or better yet, tell Kalel about that waitress."

Anthony glanced at the waitress behind him, then narrowed his eyes at me. "I really don't like you, Ian..."

I smirked at him. "Well, you're stuck with me for now." I grabbed his arm and dragged him over to our table, where Lexi was waiting patiently his her napkin on her lap.

"Cheyenne, sorry I took so long!" I apologized, still smiling. "But I saw a friend and we stopped to say hello. Lexi, this is Anthony!"

In her surprise, Lexi stood up and spun to face Anthony. "A-Anthony?" she stuttered, falling over. I grabbed her arm to hold her steady.

Anthony flashed a huge smile at her. "Lexi! Long time, no see!" he joked, punching her arm gently. "I just came in to reserve a table for tomorrow, when I saw I- Joe, and he wanted me to meet someone. I had no idea it was you!"

I narrowed my eyes at him. Had he almost messed up on purpose? I'm sure he did. I couldn't let me annoyance show, however, so I made my expression look surprised. "You guys know each other?" I asked, hoping my tone was convincing.

Lexi smiled at Anthony. "Yeah, we used to go to high school together! In fact, he was my best friend." she added, glancing at me. I knew that they had been best friends before she moved away, but she didn't know that I knew. I was always jealous of Anthony being so close to her in High School...

"Best friends, huh? You guys were rather close?" I asked, plastering a smile on my face. Anthony just glared at me, letting me know that I was pushing it.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone... I'll see you tomorrow, Ia- JOE!" he said loudly as he walked away. Now I knew he messed it up on purpose. If Cheyenne figures it out, I'll kill Anthony.

I sat back down and smiled. "Sorry about that. I didn't know he was the best friend that you were talking about earlier!" Lies.

"Yeah... I haven't seen him since I left Sacramento, but I met him again in the grocery store this afternoon."

"I see..." I responded, and started eating.

For the next five minutes, we stayed silent as we ate. It was getting more awkward by the second, so I was glad when Lexi put down her fork and started talking.

"So, Joe," She started. "Where are you from?"

I was wrong; staying silent would have been better than this. I swallowed and set my fork down too. "Oh... I'm from, uh... Sacramento..." I muttered.

She sat up straight. "Oh, really? I knew I had seen you before! Which high school did you go to?"

Now I'm screwed. "Er... I don't remember..." I responded, desperately hoping she would drop the subject.

"Well, it wasn't Wilcox High, was it? There weren't any 'Joe's there."

"Uh, yeah, I don't think it was Wilcox..." Lies.

She stayed silent for a few seconds, and I sighed a silent sigh of relief. Until she said...

"Soo... Any cute girls at your old high school?"

Kill me now. I glanced up at her for a split second but brought my eyes down again quickly. There was really no good way out... "Yeah, one." I almost whispered, hoping for the best.

Suddenly, Cheyenne reached over and grabbed my hand. I was so surprised, I looked up at her again. "Joe, I told you about Ian because I trust you. Please, trust me. Tell me about this mystery girl." She smiled and pulled her hand back.

There really was no good way out of this. Sighing, I looked her in the eyes. "I - don't remember her name..." Lies. "But she was amazing, the most beautiful girl I had ever seen then. She was really shy, yet really nice, and was always willing to help someone, even if they weren't her friend. We weren't close, though, and she moved away before high school ended."

Lexi just stared at me for a few seconds before slowly saying, "I moved away before high school ended too..."

I knew I was screwed. Laughing nervously, I said, "Heh, what a coincidence! Anyway, this restaurant is really good, don't you think?"

After a few seconds of still staring, she commented, "Yeah, it's a nice place!"

She dropped the subject after that, and I paid the bill three minutes later. We quickly got into my blue Subaru and I drove her home in almost complete silence. It made me wonder if Lexi really did know that I was Ian Hecox...

I parked my car in front of Cheyenne's house and got out, briskly walking around the hood to open Lexi's door, but she beat me to it. She smiled at me as I shut the door, then I walked her up to her door.

I smiled at her as she turned to me, and I saw her dazzling eyes. A green spark in the darkness, shimmering like big emeralds...

I quickly reached out and hugged her, for the first time in my life. In my arms was the girl I had loved since High School. I didn't want this moment to end, so when she relaxed her grip, I quickly give her a small kiss on her beautiful cheek.

She froze up, yet I saw her eyes flashing. Not in anger, but in surprise and complete bliss. I gave her my signature smile before whispering, "I had an amazing night. Thanks, Lexi, I'll see you later!" and began walking down her pathway. When I reached my car, I twisted around and gave her another smile, waving my hand. She slowly raised her hand in acknowledgement, still frozen in surprise. I opened my car door and got in, slowly driving away. As I turned the corner, I saw her still frozen to her doorstep, eyes clearly gleaming even from so far away.

**Did you enjoy it? I hope so. I'm tired. I wrote this all today. I'm tired. I hope that there aren't any mistakes. I'm really tired. :(**


	17. What Tomorrow Would Bring

**Like I said before, this is a short chapter, so sorry... but enjoy! Oh, one last thing... a few chapter ago when Lexi got the invitation, I said it was in 2 Saturdays, but last chapter I switched it to THIS Saturday. However, when I looked back at the invitation chapter, it said that the current day was Friday, thus making the reunion TOMORROW. This isn't gonna work, sooo... let's make today Wednesday. Then next chapter, it'll be Thursday, and Thursday will be the day that Cheyenne goes to get coffee with Anthony. Was that clear enough? I hope...**

As Joe's golden-wheeled blue Subaru crept by our new house, I took a good look at it. I hadn't really inspected the front closely before, and the floodlights pointing at the house gave it a sense of power. Though this house was smaller than my old house in Sacramento, and _much_ smaller than the house in Ohio, it seemed mighty. It had an aura of protectiveness, guarding Sloane and I from people who want to hurt us. Protecting us, protecting me, from high school jerks. Boy, I could've used a house like this six years ago. I could never forget the look on my mother's face, eyes wide with horror at our ruined house, the emotion that must have pushed my parents to move to Ohio.

My gaze broke away as Joe parked his car in front of the walk, opening his door and stepping out. I quickly followed, not wanting to be lingering for an awkwardly long time. I smiled at Joe as he shut the door and walked me up the cobblestone path leading to out front door.

I turned to look at him as we reached our doorstep, smiling slightly. He mirrored my smile, eyes flicking back and forth between my own. Suddenly, he reached out and hugged me, happily surprising me. I hugged him back, holding on for a few seconds before letting go. Before he pulled completely back, however, he quickly pecked me on the cheek, leaving a tingling sensation behind.

I stood dumbstruck, not saying anything for I was lost for words. Joe just gave me a lopsided smile before saying, "I had an amazing night. Thanks, Lexi, I'll see you later!" And at that, he began walking down the path again, not looking back until he reached his car. Twisting around, he gave me another dazzling smile, white in the dark, and waved his hand. Still lost for words, I slowly raised my hand in acknowledgement as he opened his car door.

Even after his car crept out of view, I just stood on my doorstep staring at the corner where the blue car had disappeared out of view. What... just happened?

After several minutes, I heard the door creak open behind. Whirling around, I saw Sloane's face between the door and the frame, a gigantic and creepy grin strung from ear to ear. "So, Lex, how'd it go?"

Letting out a breath, I pushed Sloane back through the door and brushed by him, throwing my purse on the counter before collapsing on the couch. "It was lovely!" I smiled, thinking of the kiss. Sloane slowly sank next to me, still grinning like a maniac.

"Anything interesting happen?"

I narrowed my eyes and glanced at him, yet I kept a slight smile on my face. "Nothing more interesting than your relationship with Mayella!" When he was 15, Sloane had dated Mayella for two and a half hours before she broke it off, claiming that he was "a pathetic kisser".

Sloane managed to widen his grin even further, though now you could practically see all his teeth. "So you guys kissed?"

"On the cheek, Sloane, nothing major."

"But you guys kissed?"

"Only on the cheek."

"But you guys kissed?"

"YES, WE KISSED!" I shouted, throwing my hands in the air before standing up off the couch. Making my way down the hallway to my new bedroom, I could hear Sloane quickly getting up behind me.

"Wait, Lex, I haven't even seen a picture of Joe!" he complained, leaning against the wall. I turned slightly and saw Sloane's green-blue-hazel eyes reflecting the bright light, emphasizing his dirty blond hair. Sometimes, I wished Sloane weren't my brother just so I wouldn't care that much about noticing his perfect features.

"Sloane, I don't have a picture of him. We met this afternoon!"

He made puppy dog eyes and pouted his lips.

"I'm serious, Sloane, I don't have a picture. But he's cute; I'll tell you that.

He stood up straight and brushed past me, heading into his own room. "You said that about Anthony, too." he whispered before shutting his door.

I stood open-mouthed in the hallway, facing the closed door in front of me. I laid my hand on the gleaming knob, but quickly thought better of it and turned to my own bedroom.

Skipping through the doorframe, I threw off my mahogany cami and pulled on a soft, loose, grey shirt. It was light like a feather against my skin, but it made me feel safer. I used to wear it each night while I was still in high school.

I threw on a loose pair of shorts, removed my emerald contacts and fell on my bed, exhausted from the entire day. I had moved here, unpacked, met Anthony again, met Joe, and went on a date with Joe... all in one day. As I grabbed my pillow with my arms and buried my head into the soft fabric, I wondered what tomorrow would bring.

**It took 17 chapters to get through one day... I scare myself sometimes. O_o Oh, just a warning... my 8th grade class is taking a trip to DC over Memorial weekend, starting Wednesday night and coming back on Sunday night. Therefore, I can't update Name's Memory that Saturday or Sunday, but I promise I'll get it up on Monday. But that's in two weeks or so, right? So we'll deal with it then. Anyway, see ya guys next weekend!**


	18. No Matter What

**-_- I literally wrote all of this yesterday and today. I'm tired. But then again, I'm always tired, aren't I? Anyway, just letting you know, the math paragraph looked SOOO much cooler in Google Docs, since the exponents actually looked how they were supposed to, and the fractions were on top of each other, and it was EPIC. It looks pretty idiotic here. :( Also, that's what we're learning in school right now, and I just picked random numbers to work with, so NO JUDGY if that actually isn't the answer. I don't like math. :)**

"_Hey, Cheyenne?"_

"_Uh, yes?"_

"_Do you know how to find the vertex of this equation?"_

"_Of course, it's really quite simple! First, you take the equation 2x^2+6x+5, and using the formula ax^2+bx+c and -b2/a=x, x would equal -6/4 so x is -3/2. Then, you plug -3/2 as x back into the original equation, 2x^2+6x+5, making it 2(-3/2)^2+6(-3/2)+5. Then, you simplify it to 2(9/4)+(-18/2)+5, simplify it more to 18/4-9+5, then 18/4-4, then 9/2-4, then 9/2-8/2, resulting in 1/2, which equals y. Therefore, the vertex is (-3/2,1/2), but since we'll be graphing these parabolas tomorrow, it's easier to convert them to decimals. Therefore, the vertex is (-1.5, -.5). Do you understand?"_

"…"

"_Ian?"_

"_How...?"_

"_I take notes."_

"_Wake up."_

"_Pardon?"_

"_Lexiiii, get UP!"_

My head shot up and my eyes flew open. Sloane's eyes were grinning into mine as he shook me awake, shaking my bed. I quickly pushed him onto the floor and rubbed my eyes, trying to get used to the light streaming in from the window.

"Lex?" Sloane asked, sitting up on the floor and crossing his legs, looking up at me.

"What, Sloane." I responded gruffly. Quite unlike Sloane, I wasn't a morning person at all. I functioned much better at night, when I had the motivation of be able to fall into bed after doing a set amount of work.

"What were you dreaming about?"

I looked sharply over to him. Had I been talking in my sleep? "Why do you want to know?"

Sloane gently rocked back and forth. "You shouted out 'vertex' and 'parabola'. Lex, if you were dreaming about _math_, I'm worried."

Thankfully, it didn't seem like I had mentioned anything important out loud. It was true that I _had_ been dreaming about math but it was more of a conversation in math class rather than math itself. It had been one of the few times I had talked to Ian, and one of my most cherished memories of him since he had nothing but complete respect in his eyes after I finished explaining the problem to him in about ten seconds flat. Of course, today, Sloane had decided to barge right into my dream and tell me to wake up.

"Sloane, the official term for 'dreaming about math' is called 'having a nightmare'." I responded, winking before rolling out of my bed. I grabbed my phone off my charged as I slinked over to the bathroom, checking my messages. Only one.

_heyy, r we still on fr coffe 2day? ~'Tony 'Dilla_

I smiled as I read the text, I had forgotten about my plans with Anthony. I quickly sent a reply as I got the shower ready.

_Sure thing, Padilla-Tortilla! ~LexiD_

Throwing my phone back into my room, I stripped my pajamas off, checked the water temperature, and jumped into the shower. Quickly lathering the soap onto my body and the shampoo and conditioner into my hair, I sang _One Thing_ by One Direction from the top of my lungs, hearing the words bounce off the tiles and ricochet back into my ears.

Once I dried myself off, I put on some cute yet casual clothes, including a long, flowing white shirt that was gathered above the waist by a black ribbon, black leggings, and grey boots. After blow-drying my hair, I ran back into my room and grabbed my contacts and hair straightener. Looking into the mirror that hung on my wall, I observed my dark hairline. The chestnut brown was starting to show again, and I considered, once again, dying it to a less flamboyant color. Tilting my head in concentration as the straightener heated up, I decided to ask Anthony's opinion today.

Once my nearly white hair was pin straight, I neatly placed a black fedora with a white silk ribbon around it on my head. Making a 360˚ spin, I proudly walked out my door and into Sloane's room. He was sitting cross-legged on his bed, eyes closed, humming quietly and swaying slightly. I backed out of his room and ran into the kitchen, grabbing a frying pan and metal spatula. Silently slinking back to his room, I crept up on Sloane and raised my hands, poised for an attack on his ears.

Just as I was about to swing them together, Sloane whipped around to face me and _very_ randomly shouted "COMPETITION!", his eyes wide open. In my complete surprise, I jumped back and dropped the frying pan on my head, knocking my fedora off. Shrieking, I tried to run out of his room but simply resulted in hitting the wall and falling down, hands flailing uselessly.

Sloane was laughing his head off the whole time, and when I knocked the frying pan away from my face I could see him face down on his bed, pounding his hands on the wall and kicking his legs, body shuddering uncontrollably from the laughing sobs escaping from his mouth. Glaring at him, I grabbed the metal spatula and flicked it against his shoulder.

"Ow!" he whimpered, sitting up. His eyes still held laughter, though, and he was still giggling. "What'd you do that for, Lex?" He tried looking hurt, but he couldn't hold his poker face and broke out into a huge smile, pointing at me as he fell back onto his bed.

"YOU KNOW FULLY WELL WHY!" I yelled, but the anger was melting away from my eyes as I realized how funny it must have been to watch me run into a wall with a frying pan on my head. As much as I didn't want to, I started giggling as well and ended up on Sloane's bed, laughing right along.

After a few minutes, we both sat up and sighed away the last of the giggles.

"So, Lex, I know you only wear that fedora on special occasions. What's up?"

I quickly reached down and grabbed my fedora, brushing it off before dropping it on my head again. "I'm going out for coffee with Anthony today."

Sloane gasped and leaned forward, looking into my eyes. "Anthony Padilla? You're having coffee with him? TODAY?"

I laughed and patted his head. "Yeah, so?"

"So, you're going on a date with Anthony Padilla! My sister's going on a date with half of sm- wait." Confusion glazed over his eyes. "What about Joe?"

"I'm not going on a _date_, Sloane, I'm simply catching up with my best friend from seven years ago who _happens_ to be a guy!"

"Yeah, yeah, if that's what floats your boat. I wonder what Ia-"

"Sorry, Sloane, I need to go. I need to fix my hair now that you messed it up, and I need to be at the coffe shop in-" I glanced at my watch. "_Ten minutes_!"

I jumped off Sloane bed and quickly fixed my hair before running out the door. Striding down the driveway, I hoped I wasn't going to be late.

I arrived at the small coffee shop a minute before the set time, so I sat at a table by the window. Slowly twirling some hair around my finger, I stared at the clock hanging on the wall. Mesmerized by the perpetual ticking every second, I soon imagined the clock ticking backwards, the hands slowly turning red and bursting out in flame. The numbers melted together and then separated, writing out 'popcorn'. The glass around the clock started bulging, growing bigger and bigger before exploding and sending little shards of glass everywhere...

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I was jerked out of my utterly random daydream. I looked up and saw a familiar, friendly face.

"Anthony!" I grinned, and he smiled back at me.

"Cheyenne!" He replied, sitting down across from me. "How are you?"

"Amazing, per usual! You?"

"I'm great, thanks! How've you been these last six years?"

"Frankly, much better than I was in Sacramento."

"Oh?" Anthony leaned forward slightly. "Ohio's better than Sacramento?"

"That's not what I'm saying, Anthony! I'm just saying that I wasn't Shy-Anne in Ohio."

Anthony reached over and grabbed a bit of my platinum blond hair. "When did you bleach your hair, Chey? And you got contacts."

"Right when I reached Ohio. And my contacts are colored, too. See?" I quickly grabbed my left contact out of my eye and held it out for Anthony to see.

"Ah, so it is! Wait, don't put it back in yet." Anthony tilted my head up and looked at my irises, his eyes flicking back and forth between the two. "Your natural eye color is a bit bluer, not as emerald... more like a hazel-turquoise."

He let go of my chin and I put my contact back in, blinking a few times to slide it back into place. "Yeah, I just wanted to try something new. And I liked it better this way, it seemed a bit more... not me. _If_ you know what I mean."

He nodded. "I understand. But so you know, you'll always look beautiful, no matter what.

**I'M USING MY BIG GIRL WORDS :D! JK JK JK, 'Flamboyant' and 'Perpetual' aren't that big of words. Do you know what an 'abactor' is? A cattle thief. I learned that when I was reading the dictionary. I didn't get very far, seeing as this is an 'abac' word. I need more sleep. :) Anyway, next weekend is... MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND! In other words, that means I'll be in DC for the weekend, so I'll do my best to update Monday. HOWEVER, that only leaves me with tomorrow, Tuesday, barely Wednesday, and maybe Monday to write. I don't know if I can do that. Then again, I wrote this chapter in two days, didn't I? Anyway, we'll see what happens. Oh, one more thing: I really don't know how many people read this story, let alone my Author's Notes, but I LOVE ALL OF YOU WHO DO! I feel like I can really explain what I feel here (I don't keep diaries), even if it's just me rambling about soccer (actually, today was the last game of the season... we tied 1-1. It was hot. We had no subs. We were down a player. I couldn't breathe at several points of the game. It was brutal.), but I really enjoy these Author's Notes. They let me vent. Speaking of which, I really need to vent right now... so I need to be at my school at 9:30 P.M. Wednesday, since we're leaving for DC at midnight. BUUUT I have flute lessons on Wednesday, and since I need to pack for DC, the logical thing to do it to NOT go to flute lessons (I had my last recital last Thursday anyway) and pack instead. Right? Wrong. I could pack on Tuesday. BUUUUUT... I have soccer practice on Tuesday! What for?, you may ask, since our last game was today... well, turns out there's a soccer tournament on Memorial Day Weekend, which I'm not going to be attending anyway since I'm in DC, BUUUUT... I still need to go to soccer on Tuesday! For NO. REASON. AT. ALL. That leaves Monday to packing. BUUUUT... It's stupid to pack 2 days in advance. And I still need my stuff. So, the logical thing to do is to either not go to soccer on Tuesday and pack instead, then go to flute on Wednesday, ORRRR I could go to soccer but pack instead of my flute lessons on Wednesday. Right? Wrong again. My mother is not logical AT ALL and is making me go to both. She does NOT understand how busy my schedule is, and how much I really need a break. And DC is NOT a break, we're going to be running around monuments and museums all day long. My dad agrees with her, and I'm really upset now because neither of my parents can empathize or even SYMPATHIZE with me. Oh, and then I don't have any time to write either, and I will NOT let you guys down if it's the last thing I do. But I'm extremely pissed right now. And I've run out of words to express myself. I wonder how many people actually read all that. I love you forever if you did. Anyway, until next time...**

**P.S. Did anyone get the MLP FIM reference? Anyone? Anyone? Review if you did! And review if you didn't! I like reviews! :D**


	19. Picture Perfect

**OMGOMGOMGOMG I'M SOOOO SORRY THAT I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO UPLOAD IN TWO WEEKS! But you see, I had no time to write Monday and Tuesday, and Wednesday through Sunday I was in DC, Monday I had to go to a Memorial Day party, and Tuesday through Friday were my finals. And then Friday night was the 8th grade dance, Saturday I had a rehearsal (My mom decided to make me join a Junior Chamber Orchestra for 2 rehearsals and a concert; yesterday, next Saturday, and next Sunday, respectively.) So I really only had time to write this today. AND my mom wanted me to go on a hike today, but I managed to get outta _that_ one. But please, enjoy this chapter! :D**

I smiled, taken aback by Anthony's compliment. Frankly, no one had ever called me beautiful in California before. I wasn't complaining, though, I really liked it.

"Well, thanks, Padilla! That's a first from you!"

He shrugged. "Me being a STAR has made me less shy about talking!" he said, throwing out his hands for emphasis.

I smiled before responding. "Yeah, about that, what's all this 'stardom' all about? Sloane's watched a few of your videos, but apart from that I know next to nothing."

Anthony gave me a smile that seemed slightly... nervous? "Heh, yeah, I'm in a two-man web show called 'Smosh'. We do comedy sketches on YouTube."

"Niiice... are you well-known?"

"Yeah, we're the third most subscribed channel on YouTube!"

"That's so awesome, Anthony! Do you earn any money off of it?"

"Yup, enough to keep us out of real jobs!"

"You're so lucky! I need to find a job real soon, since my parents are going to stop financially supporting me at 25. As in, less than a year."

"Hey, I come to this café often and I know the staff very well, so maybe I could ask them to give you a job here?"

I gasped. Would he really do that for me? "Would you really do that for me?"

"Of course!" he laughed. "Anything for my old best friend!"

I smiled and gave a smile little "Squee!" of joy before a waitress walked up to us.

"Hi Anthony! How can I help you today?" she asked, looking straight at him. I cleared my throat loudly and she glanced at me, obviously judging me silently.

"Can I have a latte with caramel, no foam, please?" I order, smiling softly. The waitress rolled her eyes slightly and quietly sighed before writing my order on her pad. Turning to Anthony, she broke out into a huge smile and slightly bent forward, giving him a better view down her shirt.

"And what would you like, love?" she cooed, and I snorted silently to myself. I couldn't wait to see Anthony's reaction.

"The usual, Cynnie!" he responded, smiling and giving her a wink. She giggled softly before standing up straight and walking back to the bar, swaying her hips like crazy.

Anthony turned to me and gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that, Cynnie's not usually like that. She doesn't like to see me around other girls."

I laughed into my hand, trying to muffle the sound. "Is she your girlfriend?"

He looked at me as if I had gone mad. "Are you kidding? HER? No way! I just like making her happy, I don't like her in any way, shape, or form. I already have a girlfriend, anyway."

I narrowed my eyes playfully and plastered a creepy I-know-everything smile onto my face. "Who's the lucky lady?"

"Kalel Cullen. Actually, you might know her... She's a YouTube star as well... sorta."

I tilted my head thoughtfully. I knew I recognized the name, I just wasn't sure where... until it hit me. I sat up and snapped my fingers. "No, I don't know her from YouTube, but there was this one girl who went to my school after I moved to Ohio. She was my best friend for a year, but then she moved away. She always said she wanted to be a famous Internet star under the name Kalel Cullen. Her name was... Kristen Smith..."

Anthony's face lit up. "That's her real name! I can't believe you actually know her personally! That's SO cool, maybe tomorrow me, you, Kalel, and Ia- Joe can do something together!"

"That would be fun! I haven't seen her in, like 5 years, so it'll be so nice to catch up with her! And I can't believe that she's living her 'Kalel Dream', as we called it! She had so many things already planned out, from her channel name to video ideas, even to what she would wear in each video! I didn't remember to check YouTube to see if she had actually done it, though, so it'll be interesting to see what she looks like now."

"Drop-dead gorgeous." Anthony muttered, his eyes slightly glazed over. He was probably imagining Kalel at the moment.

Cynnie slid up to our table from nowhere, breaking Anthony's trance. He looked up at her and flashed her a bright smile, and I could see her cheeks turn slightly red as she placed a tall coffee in front of him. She roughly put my latte in front of me, eyes still pasted to Anthony. "Enjoy your coffee, love!" She said to him before winking and slinking away.

Anthony smiled back at her and then turned to me, his smile abruptly dropping from his face as she was out of view and he casually took a sip of his coffee. Damn, he was one good actor!

Anthony saw me staring at him, and he shrugged as he lowered his mug. "No harm in making the girl happy."

"Does she know about you and Kalel?"

"Chey, the entire world knows, but when it comes to me and the fans, Kalel is forgotten to them."

"Doesn't that get rather annoying?" I asked, taking a sip of my latte. It was absolutely delicious, and I really hoped Anthony could get me a job here so I could drink here more often.

"Well, sometimes, but I still love my fans no matter what. Without them, smosh wouldn't have gone anywhere. And I would still be making website designs, or be jobless. I practically owe them my life."

I nodded. "I see." Suddenly, my phone started ringing and it took it out of my pocket, looking at the screen; it was from Joe. Glancing up apologetically at Anthony, I mumbled "Sorry!" to him before standing up and walking out the coffee shop.

"Hello?" I answered, leaning against the window to the shop.

"Hey, Lexi? It's me, Joe!"

"Hey Joe! How are you on this fine morning?"

"Amazing, and you?"

"I'm fantastic! I'm having coffee with Anthony, and I just learned that his girlfriend, Kristi- I mean, Kalel Cullen, was my best friend in Ohio before she moved away! Isn't it a small world?"

"Smaller than you think, Lex..." he muttered quietly into the phone.

"What was that?"

"Oh, uh... nothing, Cheyenne!" he responded quickly, and once again I got flinched as he said my name. If only I could figure out why it had that effect on me...

"Hey, do you want to do something tomorrow? I heard that there's a carnival at the beach, if you would like to go to that?"

I smiled into the phone. How did he know I loved carnivals? "I would absolutely _love_ to, Joe! Oh, can Anthony and Kalel come to?"

"Of course! They'll probably just make out in the Ferris Wheel all day, though. Can I pick you up around, say, noon?"

"That would be fantastic. I can't wait!"

"And I can't wait to see you! So long for now, beautiful!"

"Adios, handsome!" I laughed and ended the call, walking back into the coffee shop with a huge smile on my face. Anthony looked up at me as I slid back into my seat.

"Joe" was all I said and Anthony smiled knowingly.

"You made plans with him for tomorrow?"

"Yeah, we're going to a carnival down at the beach, and you and Kalel are invited too!"

"Great, we'd love to come!"

I smiled at him as we finished the last of our coffee and stood up. "It's been lovely to have this talk with you, Anthony!"

He reached out and hugged me, taking me by surprise. "It was long overdue anyway, Chey. You never really came back to me since that small fight we had when I accidentally said 'Shy-Anne'. Did I really hurt you that much by saying it?"

I sighed and turned to look him in the eyes. "Yes, but it wasn't just that. You see, when I stomped out of the school after you left, some guys attacked me in the parking lot with a knife, and they cut my head." I lifted my hair and showed him the scar, hearing Anthony gasp. "Lucky for me, though, Ian Hecox was there to save me and scared the guys off with a textbook. It was really scary for me, though, and I just couldn't get the image of blood dripping down my body out of my head for weeks after. It traumatized me."

Anthony cocked his head thoughtfully to the side, a look of confusion over his slightly Hispanic face. "Ian Hecox? But he never said... never mind, just forget it. Are you alright now?"

I laughed at his caringness, but I appreciated it too. "Do I look alright to you? I'm fine!"

A slight smile slowly crept over his face too as we walked through to door and onto the street. He turned to me and gave me another hug. "I'll see you tomorrow, Chey!"

I waved to him as I took off. "SEE YA!"

As I rounded the corner and Anthony was out of view, I realized that I had completely forgotten about asking him if I should dye my hair. I didn't really care, though, as I could always ask him tomorrow. I sighed contently, seeing as my life was picture perfect.

**LOLSIES, did I create a new word? Caringness? Sortaish... anyway, one more thing; to get a better idea of Lexi's I-know-everything smile, it looks JUST like SpongeBob's "You like Crabby Patties, don't you Squidward?" face. :) Oh, one more thing; WHO ELSE IS EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK COVER IMAGE THINGY! CUZ I KNOW I AM! :D Ah, and one more thing; can you guess how many reviews I got in these 2 weeks? Huh? HUH? I got 0 reviews! I think that's a new record, don't you? No, but sarcasm out of the way, I really really REALLY love reviews, so please please PRETTY PLEASE review! :D**


	20. Way Too Much

**WOOOOH, CHAPTA TWENTAY! Anyways, I was so utterly tired last week, I forgot a ton of stuff. Did I? Anyway... THANKS OH SO VERY VERY VERY MUCH TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED! IT MAKES A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE TO ME, KNOWING PEOPLE APPRECIATE THIS STORY ENOUGH TO REVIEW IT! Trust me, it really does! :) Nextly, Summer Vacay finally started, so HOPEFULLY I'll have more time to write! :D Thirdly, do you guys remember Bridget? Huh? Betcha 100 Smoshie points that you don't. :D If you want to refresh your memory, check out Evening of Enjoyment (Chapter 13). Well, Bridget makes another appearance in this chapter. Next, COVER ART! I made this really cool cover, but you couldn't read anything cuz it was so small, so I just settled on a pic of Cheyenne. Check it out! Oh, and my one-shot, Heart: 1, also got some cool cover art picturing Adastra, so you should go check it out too. And read it again. Cuz it's a good story! :) And LASTLY, I know this chapter was so short, and I'm sorry, but the next chapter should be longer again. :) ENJOY! :D**

"SLOANE, I'M BACK!" I yelled into the house, kicking the door closed with my foot. Flinging my purse in the general direction of the kitchen counter, I flopped onto the couch and checked my phone. No new texts.

I heard a noise from the hallway and glanced over, seeing Sloane standing with a girl. I took a double take, realizing that there was a random _girl_ in my house. Springing up, I looked from Sloane's face to her face, trying to figure out what was going on. "Sloane, who's-"

I stopped short as I recognized the girl. I wasn't sure where from, but I certainly knew her.

I took a step forward, tilted my head, and then I realized. "Bridget?"

The girl in front of me gasped and looked at me. "Cheyenne? Is that you?"

I gasped, then giggled, then broke out laughing and hugged her. "Bridget! Long time, no see! How are you?" Bridget had been a semi-friend back in high school. On the days that Anthony was sick, she would be my partner in Biology, and sometimes she would even sit with us at lunch. She was one of the very few people who never called me 'Shy-Anne' (or at least, not to my face), and though she never stood up for me, she never supported the bullies either. Oh, and she was Anthony's crush for all of high school.

"Cheyenne! I haven't seen you in forever! I love your hair!" Bridget giggled as we finally pulled apart.

"Thanks! You haven't changed one bit!" I responded, hoping she would take it as a compliment.

"Aw, thanks! How was Ohio?"

"Much better than Sacramento, to say the least. I didn't get bullied there. But I really missed you and Anthony!"

"Anthony? Oh, yeah, have you seen him? He's really famous now!"

"I know! I never would have guessed it before! I met him yesterday in the drug store, and today we went for a coffee. I was just getting back. You know, Anthony had a crush on you for at least the three years of high school that I was there for?"

"Oh, yeah, we kinda dated senior year." she responded, blushing slightly.

I hugged her again. "Really? That's so sweet! Is he a good kisser?"

Suddenly, Sloane coughed behind us and we broke apart. "I'm still here, you know..."

I fake sighed and turned to him. "Yes, and that's punishment enough, so why must you keep reminding me?" Sloane stuck his tongue out at me immaturely and proceeded to fall onto the couch.

"So what are you doing here, Bridget?"

"I came by to say 'Hi to the new neighbors', but Sloane and I recognized each other and we were just chatting for the last half hour."

"Can I have your number? Maybe we can hang out sometime!"

"Yeah, sure! My number is 555-3120. Hey, do you wanna do something tomorrow?"

I sighed as I added Bridget's number into my phone. "I can't. I'm going to the carnival at the beach with Anthony and some friends. Maybe Saturday?"

Bridget tilted her head in confusion. "Didn't you get an invitation? We're having our reunion on Saturday!"

"Oh, right, I completely forgot about that! I have nothing to wear!"

"Well, I'm free for today, so if you want to go to the mall with me and find some outfits..."

"I would absolutely LOVE that!" I hadn't been to the mall in Sacramento in about 10 years, and I wanted to see how much it had changed.

Bridget smiled at me and flipped her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder. "Great! I'll meet you there at, say, 3 in the afternoon?"

I smiled back and responded. "Fantastic! I can't wait!"

"Same here! Well, I need to go now, but I'll see you in a few hours!

I waved, watching Bridget glide through the frame and down the driveway. Suddenly, Sloane gave a dreamy sigh, and I turned back to face him.

"What?"

"She's so gorgeous..." he murmured, a glaze over his eyes. I smirked and sat next to him on the couch.

"Sloaney has a crush on Bridgey?"

He turned to face me, a dramatic took in his eyes. "This is true love, Lex, IT'S GOTTA BE!"

I smirked again and patted him on the back. "If that's what floats your boat, Sloane, so be it." Getting up, I grabbed a water bottle out the fridge and took a big sip, watching Sloane stare through the open door. "Don't scare her off, Sloane! I need to buy new clothes, and she won't help me if she thinks that my brother's a creepy stalking wacko!"

Sloane sighed and got up, slowly creeping back to his room. "You know, Lex, stalking is a form of love. It shows devotion."

I snorted as I stuck the bottle back into the fridge. "Not if the stalking gets out of hand!" I started mocking him. "Oh, Lexi, help me memorize her phone number! Quick, quiz me on the names of her siblings! Lexi, I know she wouldn't want to go on a date with a 5 foot 4 man with black hair and sideburns at the park on a Thursday at noon or 6:30, while he wears a purple, orange, or black and white shirt and is eating cookies and cream ice cream in a medium sized sugar cone, but do you think she would go on a date with me at the movies on Friday at seven, watching a romantic comedy?"

Sloane scoffed as I finished my rant. "You know, Lex, you remember way too much."

**Does she, Sloane, does she? DOES SHE? No, cuz she's so daft! JK, Cheyenne's rather smart, but I think she just blocked out most of high school, and that's why she can't connect Joe and Ian. :) And now, review, my pretties, REVIEW! :D**


	21. Worth It

**BEFORE I SAY ANYTHING ELSE, I JUST WANTED TO SAY THAT I DO NOT OWN SMOSH. STORIES HAVE BEEN TAKEN DOWN LEFT AND RIGHT, AND I JUST WANTED TO MAKE THIS CLEAR. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED.**

**This chapter, Author's Note not included, is 5 words less than last chapter, WITH the Author's Note included. I'm improving again. :) Well, sorta... I'm sorry, but this chapter is a filler chapter, BUT the story's about TO GET INTERESTING! Now, instead of girl meets guy, guy meets girl, guy knows girl, girl knows guy but girl doesn't know girl knows guy, and everything playing out from there, THERE'S A SIDE PLOT! WHICH VERY WELL MAY BE MORE INTERESTING THAN THE ACTUAL PLOT! And I owe it ALL to EpicEmma (she's EPIC... get the pun? Get it? Get it? No? Okay...), who (accidentally) gave me the whole side-plot idea. THANKS SO MUCH! And now that's that's outta the way... I KNOW I'm forgetting something important, but I can't remember what it is at all... :( Oh well. Enjoy. :)**

It was 2:15 as I stepped out the shower, shaking water droplets away from my eyelashes. I quickly blow-dried my hair and watched it fall into the gentle waves my hair naturally made, wondering if- for the first time in several years- I shouldn't straighten it.

Shrugging my shoulders, I decided to wait and see what would look best with my outfit. Walking over to my closet, I pulled out several outfits and laid them on my bed. Tilting my head, I visualized which would be best for a trip to the mall. One by one, I hung up some outfits again as I used the process of elimination to select my clothing for the day. Finally, I was left deciding between a long, loose, sky blue shirt and black leggings, or a short strapless dress that was plaid with white and navy. It gathered right above the hips by a tied dark blue ribbon and ended a bit above the knees.

After staring at the two outfits for several minutes, lips puckered in concentration, I grabbed the shirt and leggings and hung them up with the other rejected outfits. Slipping the plaid dress over my head, I tied the ribbon and looked into the mirror. Angling my head in several directions, I finally concluded that yes, I WOULD go in public with my wavy hair today. Smiling into the mirror, I bounced over to my shoe drawer and selected out a pair of strappy silver 2-inches, with clear rhinestones along each of the four straps. I applied some dark blue eye shadow that matched the dress, and grabbing a small, white purse, I stepped through the hallway and into Sloane's room.

He was on his bed, looking through one of his yearbooks from Ohio. I sat next to him and looked at the picture in the book in front of us. It was of the Junior Prom, and girls were dressed up in beautiful dresses and had their hair done just for the occasion.

Sloane laughed lightly beside me. "Look at them. They're all so beautiful. I dated half of them, and the other half I wanted to date. Then why is Bridget the only one in my mind now?" He closed the book and turned to me, genuinely curious.

"Sloane, there is a big difference between being in love and being obsessed. Do you really know which of those situations apply to Bridget?"

Sloane rubbed three fingers in between his eyebrows and closed his eyes. When he spoke his voice almost- _almost_ cracked. "Lex, I've never felt like this before. I don't think I've ever been in love before."

"You DO realize that you've only known her for about two hours? I mean, you barely talked or acknowledged her 7 years ago..."

He whirled around to face me, eyes flashing. "You think I don't realize that? You think that I planned to fall for her? Lexi, I don't understand this anymore than you do!" And with that, he groaned and rolled off the bed, lying face down into his floor.

I hesitantly got up off his bed and reached down to Sloane, slowly petting his dirty blonde hair. "Look, Sloane, I'm going to be with Bridget for the next few hours. Try to sort things out in your head."

He quickly whipped his head around to look at me, and I retracted my arm in surprise. "Not a WORD to Bridget. Understand?"

I sighed before nodding. "Of course." I left the room, biting my lip.

As I pulled Sloane's door shut behind me, I couldn't help but feel somewhat hollow inside. I didn't know how to help my brother, but I wanted to help, I really did. Maybe if I just gave him some space to think, listen when he wanted to talk... would it be enough? I sincerely hoped so.

Glancing at the clock hanging in the kitchen, my eyes nearly bugged as I saw it was 2:50. Wow, time does fly when you're preparing for an outing and listening to your little brother's love life conflicts. I swung out the door and then I realized; once again, I didn't have a car. Cursing rather loudly, I flew back into the house, away from a glaring neighbor. I grabbed a slightly larger purse, threw in my heels, grabbed my sneakers, pulled them on without bothering to untie and retie the laces, and ran out the door. I skidded around the corner of my driveway and sprinted down the sidewalk, trying not to drop my bag.

I kept running for ten minutes, thanking the higher powers that I had had enough sense to take up soccer after I moved to Ohio. I was somewhat fit, but sprinting for ten minutes was pushing my limit by a lot. My watch clicked to 3:00 just as I hurled around a corner and the mall came in view. I slowed to a more acceptable pace and scanned the people outside, looking for Bridget. She turned and saw me, flashing me a smile before walking over. I sat on a bench and gasped for air as I quickly switched out my shoes before she arrived, trying to get more oxygen into my lungs.

"Hey, Cheyenne! What happened? Why are you out of breath?" She asked, tilting her head in concern.

I held up a finger to tell her to wait a moment, and I took deep breaths to try and even out my gasps. After a moment, I had enough oxygen again to answer her. "I forgot that my parents took the car to Antarctica, so I had to sprint all the way here to make it on time."

"Ant... arctica? What are your parents doing there?" She questioned, genuinely confused.

"Oh, they're bacteriologists. They're looking for a new species, so I'm stuck here with Sloane." I stood up and started walking to the mall doors, Bridget right next to me.

"Ah, Sloane. I haven't seen him in a long time... he's changed a lot."

My conversation with Sloane came back to my mind.

"_You DO realize that you've only known her for about two hours? I mean, you barely talked or acknowledged her 7 years ago..."_

"_You think I don't realize that? You think that I planned to fall for her? Lexi, I don't understand this anymore than you do!"_

I knew I promised I wouldn't say a word to Bridget, and I wouldn't, but does that mean that I can't help the two... together? I knew I wanted to help him more than just giving him space and an ear to talk to, so this was my chance.

I grinned slyly. "Yeeeeah... how, would say, has he changed?"

She turned to me, and I saw the slightest trace of a blush on her cheeks. "Well, for instance, he's not NEARLY as annoying as he was before..." she murmured, chuckling lightly as we pushed the doors open together.

"Oh, really? And how is he now?" I knew I was playing with something dangerous, but I _needed_ to know. This was, after all, my brother.

Her blush deepened a bit before she answered. "Well, now he's kind, considerate, a gentleman..." She started zoning out. "Funny, cute..."

I smirked and turned away, starting to plot what I could possibly do to make this work out. It would be hard, but it would _totally_ be worth it.

**Weeeeeell... :). Oh, also, I wanted to know your opinion on something. For a new story. WOAH WOAH WOAH, HOLD YA HORSES! I'm not posting it now, nor will I post it anytime in the near future. It's not even about smosh. Sorry! But I just wanted to know... when you guys read a story, do you prefer: First Person vs. Third Person, and Past Tense vs. Present Tense. Leave your responses in the feedback, please, and I'm really looking forward to knowing your opinions! Thanks, and bye! ;)**

**OMG OMG OMG I JUST REMEMBERED WHAT I WAS FORGETTING! So, if you want to know exactly what Lexi's dress looks like, you can just go to the A&F website (abercrombieandfitch) and search up "Fiona Dress". It comes in 3 fabrics, but the cover dress should be the correct one. It looks a bit strange in the picture, but I own that dress myself, and I LOVE it. Cost me $78, that did. :) Ah, and I DID change the tie around the wait for the story to a solid navy colored silk ribbon that's about one inch wide, but that's it. I'm SO glad I remembered to tell you all! :)  
><strong>


	22. Eight Years Earlier

**This chapter might be confusing. CORRECTION: This chapter WILL be confusing, unless you read the chapter title. So I highly suggest you do that. Just telling you, this is NOT happening in Lexi's mind. This is in 3rd person. She doesn't remember this quite so clearly. In fact, if she did, she would know who Joe is. And it has something to do with This was Home (chapter 14), paragraph... 20. Yah.**

"_And yesterday, I saw her in the hallway with her posse. It's hard to believe that she's two years younger than us! I mean, she's super smart and all, that's why she's in our Biology class, but she doesn't look that young..."_

_Cheyenne sighed but maintained the bright smile on her face as she listened to Anthony ramble on about Bridget. It was rather boring, but she wasn't about to rain on Anthony's parade. He seemed really happy talking about Bridget. She would be happy to talk about Ian, but there was no way in hell she would admit her crush on him. If that news got out, the whole school would know about it in 10 seconds flat, including Ian. And that would be a disaster. Speaking of Ian..._

_"Heya Anthony!" a voice said as a person passed the table where the two friends sat. Cheyenne froze, as she knew EXACTLY whose voice it was._

_"Heya Ian! How are you, man?" Anthony responded, watching as Ian stopped at the table for a moment. Cheyenne was still frozen._

_"I'm good, man. Hey Cheyenne!"_

_Cheyenne's heart stopped, before racing a million miles an hour. She slowly turned to face him, green eyes meeting blue. With a pair of glasses in between, of course. She started blinking rapidly._

_"Hi, Ian" she mumbled out, thankful that she didn't stutter._

_"Well, I'll see you guys later!" Ian smiled as he continued to his table. Cheyenne's eyes followed him all the way._

_"Nice kid. Don't know why you don't talk to him. Never heard him call you 'Shy-Anne', either."_

_Cheyenne turned to glare playfully at Anthony. She slowly raised an eyebrow before saying, "Just cuuuuuz."_

_Anthony shot a confused glance at Cheyenne, before being pelted with soggy French fries. He let out a surprising feminine squeal before grabbing another handful of the deep fried potatoes and chucking them back at Cheyenne._

ONE DAY LATER

_Cheyenne's eyes flicked onto the face of each person in the hallways. She was drained of color, excepting the dark circles under her eyes. Her trembling hands could barely hold her books, but she knew that if she dropped them they would be kicked to places she would never be able to reach. Anthony walked beside her, chatting as if nothing were wrong. But to Cheyenne, everything was wrong. She had forgiven Anthony for calling her 'Shy-Anne' the day before, though it was only because she had other things on her mind. Much bigger things._

"_Chey, are you SURE you're okay?" Anthony questioned for the twentieth time. Cheyenne's eyes flicked to him for a split second before returning to her paranoid scanning of the crowded hallways._

"_I'm fi-fine." she stuttered, her voice barely above a whisper. She wasn't fine, though, and it was fairly obvious. Anthony knew better than to press her for a legitimate answer, though, so he just returned to his mindless chatter, even though he knew Cheyenne wasn't listening. Soon, they reached the fork in the halls where the two friends would have to part ways. Before he could leave, however, she quickly reached out and hugged him as best she could with the books in her hand. Anthony was surprised, but didn't hesitate before returning the hug. As she pulled away, he could clearly see the fright in the green eyes hiding behind the glasses. He offered her a reassuring smile before turning away and heading down the other hall._

_Cheyenne nervously tugged at a strand of chestnut hair before turning around and creeping down the hallway. Her eyes were still flicking back in forth, until she felt a hand grip her shoulder._

_She let out a shriek before spinning around and stumbling back, her eyes wide in fear. When she saw who it was, however, she pressed herself against a locker and squinted her eyes, trying to calm down slightly._

"_Cheyenne? Are you alright? How's your head?" the person questioned. Cheyenne cautiously watched the piercing blue eyes hiding under brown hair through her half-closed eyes, but she didn't respond. She hoped her expression would speak for itself._

_Ian slowly reached an arm to her ear and she shriveled back slightly, but not enough to stop him from reaching for her. She had no energy, for she hadn't slept at all the night before. Ian slowly parted her hair from behind her ear and stepped closed, narrowing his eyes as he observed the damage. His eyes widened, however, as he took in the angry, swollen flesh surrounding the deep gash. He gasped as he dropped her hair back in place, and Cheyenne took another step back. She didn't want to scare him._

"_Cheyenne, you have to go to a hospital! That can't heal properly without medical attention!" he ordered, stepping up to close the distance between them again._

_Cheyenne dropped her eyes before quickly muttering, "It's fine. I'm fine."_

"_Cheyenne, you can't ignore something like that!" he commanded again and reached out to her hand, grasping it tightly._

_The two stood like that in the middle of the crowded halls for a few seconds, and her eyes slowly lifted to look into his again. They were filled with... concern? No, Ian didn't care about her. She wouldn't believe that. She couldn't believe that. It just wasn't humanly possible._

_She quickly yanked her hand away from his grasp, stumbling back as she looked over her shoulder._

"_I... I need to get to class..." she mumbled, spinning back around and quickly walking away._

_If she had looked back, she would have seen Ian standing in that hallway for the next minute even as the bell rang, looking down the hallway where she had disappeared. But she didn't look back, and she would never know._

**OOOOOO, Lex, ya lost ya chance! Anyway... bad news. I can't update the next two weekends. The next weekend, because I have camping, and the weekend after, because my family and I are going to CANADA! Calgary, to be exact. To see the Calgary Stampede, to be more exact. Now don't feel too badly... I REALLY need to catch up on writing this story. I have almost no time during the week to write, so I find myself trying to grind out a chapter on Sunday. NOT fun. Therefore, I'm hoping to get at least two chapters done in this time, and then the chapters will be (once again) longer. And if we're lucky, I'll try to get out a chapter before we leave for Canada, but I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY doubt it, since we're leaving on July 3rd and coming back on the 12th. Sorry! :( Oh, one more thing... I'm expecting about 6 more chapters for Name's Memory. It might be more, but only one or three, since I planned out how many things will have to happen before the final event that will conclude the story. Soooo... BYE!**_  
><em>


	23. I Belonged

**I'M BAAAAACK! And with me, comes a new chapter! Now, before you ask, yes, I saw a bear in Canada, no, it wasn't pedobear, but yes, I DID, in fact see a pedobear bumper sticker. No one else understood why I was rolling on the ground laughing inside a parking garage. :/ ANYWAY, I kinda miscalculated when I was getting back, so I only got on Friday, so I barely had any time to write, but I managed. :) And now, for our feature presentation!**

Bridget and I walked into the Abercrombie & Fitch store. She walked ahead of me, chatting away about a beautiful dress she had seen a week ago but hadn't had her credit card with her to buy it. That, and it was crazy expensive. I followed closely behind, a slight smirk on my face as I thought about what to do with Bridget and Sloane.

She walked over to a rack and turned to me, her hand gently gripping a simple, short, strapless red dress. "This is the dress I wanted. Isn't it absolutely dreamy?" She turned back to the dress and rubbed the fabric fondly.

"Are you gonna buy it?"

"Oh, I wish! It's a little out of my budget, though, so I'll just settle for something else from Old Navy."

Suddenly, I had an absolutely brilliant idea. I knew just how to get Bridget and Sloane together.

"Hey, Bridget," I started, sliding up to the rack so I was facing her. "Are you doing anything tomorrow, around noon?"

She turned to me, slightly confused. "Yeah, but I thought you said you were going to the Carnival with Anthony tomorrow?"

I smirked again before replying, "I need to make a quick call, can you give me a sec?"

"Sure..." she replied slowly, still slightly confused. I walked over to the store entrance, pulled out my cell phone, and punched in Sloane's number.

It rang twice before he picked up. "Lex, what's up?" I heard him ask, the phone slightly warping his voice.

"Sloane, are you doing anything tomorrow?"

"I'm not planning anything... why?"

I smirked again. "How would you like to go to a carnival tomorrow with me and a couple of friends... and Bridget?"

There was a silence on the other side for a few seconds. "What."

"You heard me!"

"Lex, you didn't say anything to Bridget, right? You promised!"

"I know, and I didn't! I just wanted to see my little bro happy!"

Another silence. "Are you sure?"

I sighed. "YES! Bridget already said that she was free tomorrow, but I still need to ask if she wants to go. And I'm sure she does..." I trailed off, certain how to make sure Bridget would come.

"Really? I'd absolutely LOVE to come! But ONLY if Bridget is there."

I smiled into my phone and glanced back to Bridget. She had moved on to the denim shorts, but I could see her eyes still glued to the red dress. "Oh, she will be... I'll see you in a bit, Sloane!"

"Bye, Lex! And thanks a TON!"

I ended the call and slipped back into the store, heading to Bridget. I snuck a glance at the dress's price tag before reaching her.

"Bridget, I have a proposition for you. If you come to the Carnival tomorrow with Anthony and I, and Sloane, and you wear that red dress... I'll buy it for you."

I watched her eyes grow wide and dart to the dress before returning to me. "W-What? You would buy it? For me?"

I smiled gently before replying. "Of course! But only if you wear it tomorrow."

She glanced between the dress and me a few times before stammering, "I-I couldn't possibly let you! That dress is too expensive!"

"Bridge, if you wear it tomorrow, I'll be honored to buy it for you."

She looked down to the floor for a few seconds before glancing back up. "Sloane's coming?" she asked softly, and I could see a slight blush creep across her cheeks.

"Only if you're coming."

A small smile formed on her face, which quickly transformed into a bright grin. "And I'll wear that dress?"

I simply nodded.

She beamed and hugged me tightly, surprising me slightly. "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" She shouted in my ear loudly, causing a saleswoman to turn and glare at us. I giggled and hugged her back, before she let go and practically ripped the dress off the rack and dashed over to the register.

I followed, paid for the dress with my credit card, and we walked out of the store with smiles on both of our faces.

As we walked into the next store, I asked a question that I didn't want to ask but I wanted to know the answer to.

"So, Bridget, do you remember Ian Hecox, from school?"

She turned to me, her narrowed as she tried to remember. After a few seconds, she realized and smiled at me. "Yeah, what about him?"

"How was he... after I left? Do you remember?"

"Kinda, he got really close to Anthony after you left, but that's all I can remember. He was his best friend while Anthony and I dated."

Suddenly, I was reminded of what Anthony had said in the drug store.

"_Wow, I can't believe you don't remember your own best friend from high school!" I accused jokingly, flipping my hair to the side and putting on a prize-winning smile._

_Now, his smile faltered. He looked confused for a second. "Who, Ian?"_

Well, that made more sense now!

I nodded as we looked around and suddenly a bright green dress caught my eye. It had 2-inch straps on both shoulders and had a very modest neckline, and it came to a bit above my knees. The pattern was a bit lacey, and it came together by a super skinny brown belt around the smallest part of the waist.

I stalked straight toward it and took it off the rack. Turning to face Bridget, I held it out in front of me.

"What do you think? Could I wear this to the reunion?"

She smiled before shouting, "YES! It matches your eyes! Go try it on!"

I giggled before dashing into the dressing room and pulled the dress over my head. I looked and felt amazing in it, so I opened to door and showed it to Bridget. She gasped, shouted "YEEEEES!" and gave me two thumbs up. I grinned broadly and ducked back into the changing room, glancing at myself in the mirror one last time before pulling it off.

After we paid for my dress, we walked around the mall for a bit, simply catching up on the past 6 years while we floated through several stores. Bridget found a pair of black flats she really liked, and I bought some greenish heels that slightly reminded me of a butterfly.

Once we got to the jewelry department, we began talking about guys.

"So, Cheyenne, anyone special you left in Ohio?" Bridget asked, wiggling her eyebrows while I observed a pair of ball studs that were covered in small, green gems.

I blushed, but quickly answered with a "No!" before picking the earrings up and taking a closer look at them.

"Then why are you blushing?" she questioned as she turned to a pair of black flower studs.

I took the green earrings off the rack and tried one on, pushing the hair away from my ear. I saw my white scar.

"Because I've already met someone in Cali."

She gasped and turned to me, her hands still lingering over the black flowers. "Whowhowhowhoisit? DoIknowhim?" she exclaimed, squishing her words together.

I smiled as I stuck the other stud in and pulled my hair back. "I don't know, you tell me! His name is Joe Matts, and he has brown hair and bright blue eyes. He's a friend of Anthony's."

Bridget slid up next to me and looked in the mirror, putting her earrings in as well. "I don't think I know him. Never heard the name 'Joe Matts' before."

"Yeah, well, Cali's a big place! Oh, and by the way, he's coming with us to the carnival tomorrow, so you can meet him there!"

"Sounds great!" she responded as we both took the earrings off. Satisfied with our choices, we proceeded to the register and bought them before we headed back out the mall.

As we came to the street where we would have to part ways, Bridget turned to me and hugged me through our shopping bags.

"This was so much fun! We HAVE to do this again some time!"

I nodded and we parted. "I'll see you tomorrow, Bridge!"

She started walking away. "You too, Cheyenne!"

"Hey, Bridget? I go by my middle name, Lexi, now. Just because it's so, you know, _not_ like Shy-Anne."

She gave me an understanding look. "I know. I'll see you later, _Lexi_!"

I grinned broadly and waved as she walked away before I turned and went my own direction.

This time, I walked instead of ran (I wouldn't have been able to if I tried, with all the shopping bags weighing me down), and I enjoyed the day. It was slowly getting dark, however, so I walked a little faster. When I reached my home, I quickly dropped my bags on the sofa, changed into shorts and a T-shirt, sprayed on some bug spray, and went back outside. It was twilight now, but I could still see the magnificent reds and oranges painting the horizon. I simply walked down to the end of the driveway and sat on the ground, looking around me. Twilight was my favorite time of the day; it inspired me. The stillness was amazing, as the birds weren't singing at this time of day, and a car passed only once in a while. The world was covered in a hazy, yellow sheet, and the air felt more breathable. At twilight, I actually felt like I belonged.

**I liked this chapter. I don't know why. ANYWHO, I've started a polyvore account, and now I'm recreating the outfits from Name's Memory! So, possibly next week, I'll include links (or as much of them as possible) to the outfits so you guys can have a better idea of the scenes. I've already done most of them, so you can expect the links next week. See ya later, my lovelies!**


	24. The Way Things Work

**I know this is a filler, and I'm sorry, but I had to write all of this today, even though I spent the entire day at the Great Lakes Medieval Fair. In better news, I have several polyvore links to get to, and those will be at the end! But for now, please enjoy this brother/sister bonding time. :D**

I woke up to the sound of horrendous rapping and singing.

"I SAVED THE WORLD LIKE FIFTEEN TIMES AND SAVED THE PRINCESS FROM DEMISE AND I DO IT ALL ALONE WITH NO HELP AND NO ADVICE!"

Sitting up in my bed, I rubbed my eyes and glanced at my phone's clock: 10:17.

"HEY, LOOK, LISTEN! HEY LOOK LISTEN YOU... ANNOYING FAIRY!"

Whoever was singing at least had the decency to censor himself. I peeled the covers off my body and staggered out my door, not even bothering to look in the mirror. The rapping was coming from the kitchen, and I was finally awake enough to realize that it was Sloane singing.

"I'D RATHER BE FORCED TO LISTEN TO CONSTANT KATY PERRY! I THINK IT'S TIME I GOT SOME RECOGNITION, DON'T YOU THINK? LEGEND OF ZELDA? SCREW THAT! LEGEND OF LINK!"

I leaned on the doorframe, staring at Sloane with my eyes now wide open. He was prancing around the kitchen, eyes closed, wooden spoon held to his mouth like a microphone. I opened the camera on my phone and started recording Sloane just as he hit the chorus.

"CUZ HE'S THE L TO THE I TO THE N TO THE K! WEARS TIGHTS EVERYDAY, DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHAT YOU SAY! GOT BIGGER BALLS THAN EVEN EVEL KNIEVEL, AND HE AIN'T GONNA STOP TILL THE WORLD IS FREE OF EVIL!"

This was Internet gold! I had no idea what he was singing, but either way he sounded terrible, and it was HILARIOUS! But of course, I made the mistake of letting out a laugh, and Sloane turned to me with horror over his face.

"LEXI! HOW COULD YOU?" he screamed in a very VERY high-pitched voice. This video was getting better and better! That is, until Sloane decided to tackle me.

My phone flew out of my hands and landed on the couch. It was against a pillow, propped up and facing us. I screamed and tried to wiggle away from Sloane, but he simply grabbed my wrists and pinned them to the floor. I crunched my stomach and brought my knees to my chest before kicking upwards, resulting in me being almost completely vertical, supported by the back of my neck. Sloane let go in surprise, and I used the opportunity to lower my legs and crawl quickly to the couch. Just as I reached it, however, I felt two hands grab my ankles and pull my away from the phone. I screamed again and grabbed onto the coffee table in search of a grip for my hand, but the table got dragged along with me. I abandoned it and twisting my body around, watching Sloane try to get me away from the coach. Pushing off with my hands, I jumped at him with my ankles still twisted. He grunted in surprise but recovered faster than last time, balancing himself to try and not fall with me on top. I let out a laugh as he stumbled around, bumping into the wall. I let go and gave him one last push for good measure before racing back to my phone, grabbing it and flipping it over to stop the recording.

Sloane stood up and brushed off his pants before slowly creeping near me. "Lex, give me the phone." he commanded, his voice soft yet intense. I simply looked at him in disbelief.

"Just delete the video, and everything will be okay," he said again.

I chuckled lightly. "Okay, okay! I'm deleting it!" I handed my phone to Sloane and he checked my videos, nodding in approval when he couldn't find the one of him singing and us fighting. He handed it back to me, not seeing my smirk; I had saved it online before deleting the video off my phone.

I laughed silently as I jumped back into my room and threw my wardrobe open. I wanted my outfit to be casual yet nice, so I decided on short shorts and a tank top with matching heels or flats, and my denim clutch purse. I selected a pair of shorts and chucked them in the general direction of my bed along with the purse. Looking through my collection of tops, my eyes landed on a loose, purple tank that was gathered right under the bust by a sparkly purple band. I also found a pair of purple strappy heels that were surprisingly comfortable to walk in! Moving over to my nail polish collection, I selected a sparkly purple shade to apply solidly.

After I showered and put all my clothes on, I went to dry my hair. Standing in front of the mirror, I thought about what would look good that wasn't just hanging loosely. I suddenly recalled a braid I had seen in a magazine a few months ago, so I looked up the instructions on how to do it. It seemed relatively easy, but I had to straighten my hair first. When I was finished, I pleated it into a fishtail braid that looked really cool with my platinum blond hair. Satisfied with the result, I quickly but carefully applied the nail polish and ran some black eyeliner on my waterline.

When I was finally complete, I checked my phone for the time: 11:43. I would have a bit of time before Joe arrives, so I pulled my phone out again and watched the video again. It started with Sloane singing horribly, then him tackling me, us fighting, and ended with me desperately clawing at my phone. I laughed again as I was struck with an absolutely wonderful idea. I quickly logged onto my online video backup site and moved the video to YouTube, uploading it to my account. As I waited for it to load, I rolled my chair into the hallway.

"Hey Sloane?"

"Yeah?" he responded from inside his room.

"I was just wondering about that song you were singing in the kitchen earlier. What song was that? And who's it by?"

"Um, It's the Legend of Zelda Rap, by Smosh."

I cocked my eyebrow but simply wheeled back into my room, where the video had finished uploading. I titled it 'My Brother Singing Legend of Zelda Rap by Smosh' and added in the description box, 'My little brother woke me up with his singing, so I recorded him but he noticed and tackled me, resulting in a full-fledged fight for who got to my phone faster.'

I posted the video and sat back in my chair, admiring my work. I sent the link to him, knowing he would see the video before the weekend was over, but I had already posted it and he couldn't do anything about it. And anyway, aren't siblings supposed to annoy each other? It's simply the way things work.

**That wasn't a whole lot of writing... :(.** **Now, for the outfits... The site is called polyvore, and it's a 'com' site. So just start the URL like that. Then, add these on (one at a time, boys, one at a time):**

**/lexi_goes_to_drug_store/set?id=53924816**

**/lexi_has_coffee_with_anthony/set?id=53924939**

**/lexi_goes_to_mall/set?id=53927428**

**/lexi_goes_to_carnival/set?id=54050605**

**The titles are pretty self-explanitory, sooo... I already have Bridget's outfit, but since she comes in next chapter, I'll give you the link to her carnival outfit then. I'm sorry this was all rushed (even the author's notes...), but I just wanted to get this update out before the weekend ends. Gotta stick to my schedule, ya know? ;) I'll see you all next week! Happy Reading, I'll Be Writing! ;)**


	25. It's All Right

**I must say, I'm quite pleased with this chapter, whether it be for the length, or the amount of actual content. Not all too must thinking going on in this chapter. It's probably since my dad turned the Internet off early of Thursday, so I had nothing else to do but write at 2:00 AM. Not to mention, my Birthday's in two days, so I wanted to give you guys a good chapter. Yet... shouldn't _I _be the one getting the present? Oh well... anyway, I've heard that the polyvore links didn't work, so let's try and fix that, shall we? ;) But that's for later. For now, PLEASE enjoy!**

I was still sitting in my rolling chair, legs crossed and propped up on the desk, when the doorbell rang. In my haste to answer the door I almost fell of my chair, but sprang up before my chair toppled over. I quickly strode into the living room, but Sloane had already beaten me to the door. I was surprised when he opened it and a girl was standing there, until I remembered that Joe wasn't the only one coming.

Bridget had a huge grin on her face as she swayed through the door, eyes not leaving Sloane. True to her word, she was wearing the strapless red dress I had bought her yesterday. She matched it with the black flats and flower studs, and had painted her nails white with black spots. The red of her dress set off the inconspicuous light pink streaks in her straight, dirty blond hair. Overall, she looked stunning. Good enough for my brother.

I greeted her with a small hug and she complimented my outfit, but I knew her mind was still on Sloane. He walked over and wrapped her in a short yet tight embrace before shyly murmuring, "You look beautiful."

Bridget blushed to the color of her dress and replied, "Thanks. You're not too shabby yourself."

I simply smirked from my place in the corner before the doorbell rang again. Sloane looked up at me and smirked as well before he remarked, "That must be your man. Come, Bridget, I want to show you a song some of my friends in Ohio made." He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards his bedroom. Bridget sent me a glance, and I returned a reassuring glance before turning to the door again. "They even set up a studio in one of their garages..."

I straightened my shirt and adjusted my shoe before I opened the door. Joe's smiling face was looking at me, and he immediately reached out and wrapped me in a hug, lifting me up and twirling me around. I threw my head back in laughter before he set me on my doorstep again.

"How is my lovely Lexi doing?"

"Amazing, now that you're here!" I replied, giggling as I pulled him into the house. This relationship was strange... not in a bad way, of course! But with all my former relationships, we were at the 'twirling, giggling, "Better, now that you're here!"' stage several weeks into the relation. With Joe, however, we were there after _two days_ of meeting. It was almost like I knew him longer...

"So, Anthony and Kalel are going in Anthony's car, and they'll meet us at the fair. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I just need to grab my purse and check my makeup."

Joe smiled that smile that lit up his eyes, and he pulled me close, his arms wrapped around my waist. "You look absolutely beautiful, Lexi, don't worry!"

I simply giggled in response (again) and he kissed the tip of my nose as a blush crept across my cheeks.

"Why thank you! However, I think that _your_ eye shadow needs a touch-up!"

He crossed his eyes and rolled them at the same time, as if he were looking at his eye shadow. He replied in an overly dramatic girl voice. "Oh my _god_, you are _so_ right! And why did I even pick that shade? It _totally_ clashes with my eyes and makes my hair look like a bowl! What was I _thinking_?"

I burst out laughing and leaned forward to casually rest my forehead on his. I was still giggling like a madwoman, but I was looking straight into his beautiful blue eyes, still narrowed in a huge smile. Even though I loved my own green orbs, I've always been envious of blue ones. They seemed so capable of holding emotion (and attention). Not to mention, blue eyes are pretty.

"Someday, you need to let me actually put eye shadow on you!"

He stared straight back into my eyes as he pouted, his blue orbs drastically changing. "You promise you won't pick a color that clashes?"

I couldn't help the huge smile that formed on my face as he spoke. "I promise!" I replied, trying (and failing) to pull myself back into a poker face.

"Then I might take you up on your offer!" he responded before kissing me on my nose again and dropping his arms away from me. Two days?

"Well I still need to get my purse and check my makeup. Sloane and Bridget should be out soon, though."

Joe looked truly confused. "Sloane and Bridget?"

I suddenly realized; I had _completely_ forgotten to mention that Sloane and Bridget were coming. I bit my lip nervously before answering Joe. "Yeah, um, I kinda invited my brother and a friend along too, because they fancy each other but don't know the feeling's mutual, so I thought that this would help them realize... But don't worry, I'm not gonna interfere, I'm all yours!" I added on quickly, hoping that he would see that I didn't want this to _not_ be a date.

His eyes still looked unsure, but he smiled brightly and nodded. "Of course, it'll be fine! In fact, the double date all the way across the carnival is starting to look like a TRIPLE date!"

I cracked up at his crazy reference, and he smiled back at me. I hesitantly backed up into the hallway, not wanting to leave Joe but knowing I had to get my purse.

I entered my room and grabbed it off my unmade bed before looking in the mirror. I remembered that I had only put a bit of eyeliner on my waterline, so none of it had smudged, but I grabbed my pencil anyway and went over the line again to make sure the color was black, not gray. Dropping the pencil back into my denim clutch, I made my way out my door and into the living room.

Sloane, Bridget, and Joe were all standing in the middle of the room, looking at each other. Bridget was eying Joe with a slightly uncomfortable look in her eyes, Joe seemed a bit nervous as he glanced between the two, and Sloane simply stared at him with his mouth open and his eyes wide. They all turned to me as I walked in.

Bridget was the first to speak. "So, since Sloane doesn't have a car, he'll be coming with me in mine." Sloane turned red at the idea of being driven by his date instead of _him_ driving _her_. "And Lexi, I suppose you'll be going with... _Joe_." Bridget glanced uncomfortably at Joe again before she turned to Sloane and smiled. She led him out the door and towards her car.

Once the two were out the door, Joe bowed slightly and offered his hand. "Shall we go, m'lady?"

I smiled brightly and took his hand. "We shall, good sir!" And with that, we waltzed out the door.

Bridget's car was just pulling out the driveway as we walked down the three steps. Sloane waved out his window to us before the car drove out of view. Joe had smartly parked in front of the house so that he wouldn't potentially block Bridget's car, so we walked down the walkway. He glanced to the left as we reached his blue Subaru.

"Haven't had time to fix your hedge, I see?" he remarked, smirking at me.

"No, since it's only been like that since two days ago, and yesterday I went shopping with Bridget."

He opened my car door before walking back around to his side. "Didja buy something pretty?"

I smirked as I got in the car. "Yup, I bought a new outfit for my high school reunion tomorrow. Can you believe my timing? I've been back in California for two days, and the reunion's tomorrow!"

He froze and turned to me as he started the car. "You're going to the reunion tomorrow?"

I narrowed my eyes slightly at his wording. _The_ reunion, not _a_ reunion... "Yes..." I spoke slowly.

He must have caught onto my suspicion, since he me a slight smile and explained, "Anthony's been talking about it."

I nodded and turned back to look out the windshield. Joe stepped on the clutch and shifted the gear as he pulled away from my house and drove down the street. As we turned the corner, I spoke again.

"Do you mind if I turn on the radio?"

Joe smiled but didn't take his eyes off the road. "Well, I think my radio's gay, so I'm not if you'll manage to 'turn him on'."

I stared blankly at him and his air quotes for a few seconds before I understood his joke and smirked. "Well, that might be so, but I don't think he can turn down _this _sexy thang!"

He smirked back and patted my head, and I smiled in return and pressed the power button. The radio sprang to life, and immediately a new song started. I gasped as I recognized the lyrics.

_It's been a really really messed up week_

_Seven days of torture, seven days of bitter_

_And my girlfriend went and cheated on me_

_She's a California dime but it's time for me to quit her_

My face broke out in a gigantic smile as the music rang through the car. I turned to Joe with a really excited expression, and he chuckled as he saw my face. I sang along to the next verse.

_La la la, whatever, _

_la la la, it doesn't matter, _

_la la la, oh well,_

_La la la._

Joe broke out laughing when he heard me. However, he joined in and we broke out into the chorus together.

_We're going at it tonight, tonight_

_There's a party on the rooftop, top of the world_

_Tonight, tonight and we're dancing on the edge of the Hollywood sign_

_I don't know if I'll make it, but watch how good I'll fake it_

_It's all right, all right, tonight, tonight._

I started laughing hysterically, and Joe could barely keep his eyes on the road. I didn't know what was so funny, though I supposed it was the way Joe was singing. Even though this was a light-hearted moment, I couldn't help but feel the significance of the lyrics. We'd be at the carnival all day, and we'd be having the time of our lives. It's all right, all right, tonight, tonight.

**ME GUSTA.**

**Anyway, here's the link for Bridget's outfit:**

**/cgi/set?id=54716875**

**Don't forget, polyvore is a 'com' site, so put that stuff before the link. :) And here are some other outfits. I hope these work! (These are the same ones from last chapter):**

**/cgi/set?id=54050605 (Lexi Goes to the Carnival)**

**/cgi/set?id=53927428 (Lexi Goes to the Mall)**

**/cgi/set?id=53924939 (Lexi has Coffee with Anthony)**

**/cgi/set?id=53924816 (Lexi Goes to the Drug Store)**

**Do these links work better? Please tell me! Oh, and by the way, I won't have an opportunity to update next weekend, since my family is going camping. :( But I'll see you all in two weeks! Bye bye, now, my lovelies! (And leave reviews. They are my source of energy.)**


	26. Sort It All Out

**Hi! So in this chapter, we introduce the ever-lovely Kalel Cullen! Now, I just want to say something; I don't know all too much about her and her style and how she would act in a situation like this, so I simply did what I thought would be best for her story. And I don't know if that outfit is something she would wear, but I thought it would look good on her. Also, I don't know if her hair is still black, but for the sake of the story, lets say it is. :) Ah, and there is a bit of drama in this chapta, but I don't want to reveal too much. I have Kalel's Polyvore link at the end, so... yeah. Enjoy! :D**

After half an hour of messing around and singing to songs on the radio, we finally pulled into the parking lot by the beach. I could see the carnival a few minutes' walk from here, and a huge Ferris Wheel was set up on the boardwalk. I jumped out of the car, waited for Joe to lock his car, and then I ran for the carnival.

We caught up with Bridget and Sloane halfway there, walking hand in hand. When they saw us, they began running with us.

"I can already see Anthony and Kalel by the entrance!" Joe yelled and continued sprinting. We finally slowed down, and Anthony and Kalel went to meet us.

Kalel looked just like she had 5 years ago, except now her hair was black and wavier. She was wearing a light yellow summer dress and black gladiator sandals, matched with stacked, beaded bracelets. She narrowed her eyes at me, as if she recognized me but couldn't believe it. "Lexi?" she questioned.

"Kristen!" I shouted and hugged her tightly. She laughed and hugged me back. "I can't believe it's really you! I mean, after you left Ohio five years ago, I thought I'd never see you again!"

"I know, right? And I'm living my Kalel dream now!"

"Anthony told me! Isn't this a small world? I used to be friends with Anthony before I moved to Ohio, and now you're dating him!"

"Mmhm, and you're dating Joe! And... is that Sloane?"

I laughed at her surprise. She almost sounded like Bridget. "Yes, it is, but he's here with Bridget, so you have to stick to your own man."

She looked at me with shock. "I would never, Lexi, you know that! And Anthony's an amazing man, so I have no plans of leaving him or cheating on him. And I'm sure he won't ever either!"

I grinned at Kalel and turned to Anthony, who was talking to Bridget.

"Bridget?"

She sighed quietly and turned to him. "Hey Anthony! Long time, no see, right?"

He was just staring at her. "Um, yeah, haven't seen you since senior year. When we were dating, remember?"

She seemed to notice something that I didn't, for she quickly pulled Sloane to her side. "Anthony, this is Sloane, Lexi's younger brother. He's my date for today."

Anthony looked very surprised, and he turned to Sloane, who was just a bit shorter than him. "Ah, Sloane, I remember you! Lexi always told me stories about you. You're rather... _young_, don't you think?"

Sloane looked up at Anthony with pure admiration, clearly not hearing Anthony's entire statement. "Oh my god, I can't believe I'm standing next to _Anthony Padilla_! And he knows me! I'm a HUGE fan of smosh, you guys rock!"

"Oh?" Anthony questioned, and he raised his eyebrows at Joe. He shook his head lightly at Anthony and then turned to me, a grin stretching across his face.

"Shall we go, m'lady? I hear there's a cotton candy stand!"

I gasped and grabbed his hand, running to the entrance. "How did you know I love cotton candy?!"

Joe laughed and let himself get tugged along. Anthony, Kalel, Bridget, and Sloane quickly followed. "Oh, just a guess!"

Once we had paid for entrance tickets and got through, I whipped my head around wildly, trying to locate the cotton candy stand. I spotted it and started sprinting, Joe hot on my heels. When we reached the stand, Joe ordered two sticks full of the fluffy sugar.

"Blue, please!"

It seemed like Joe knew little details about me, what I liked, and so on and so forth. I absolutely hated pink cotton candy, but I was a sucker for blue cotton candy. It was almost as if he knew me... but that's impossible, of course. We met two days ago.

Taking a bite of my colored fluff, I glanced back at the rest of our group. Sloane and Bridget had their hands intertwined and were pointing at a ride, and Anthony was... staring at Bridget? Kalel stood by him, watching Anthony's gaze, and her expression seemed slightly annoyed. I instantly understood what Bridget had noticed earlier, when she had pulled Sloane to her. This wasn't good at all; Sloane liked Bridget, and Bridget liked Sloane and was clearly over Anthony since they broke up in high school. Kalel obviously liked Anthony, since they were dating, and I thought Anthony liked Kalel too, especially because of everything he told me when we had coffee yesterday, but then why would he be staring at Bridget? Was he not over her yet?

Joe pulled me out of my thoughts as he brought me over to a stand where you could win a stuffed animal if you shot the bull's-eye at least twice. Joe picked up one of the toy guns, twirled it his hands a few times to impress me before the man running the stall barked, "I don't have all day you know!" Joe rolled his eyes at the man and I giggled as Joe pulled the trigger, hitting the target right in the middle. He repeated it two more times, pretended to blow the smoke away from the gun, and raised his eyebrows at the man. He grumbled and gave Joe a stuffed peacock, who then gave it to me. I hugged Joe before admiring my new friend.

"How did you learn to shoot guns like that?" I questioned as I played with my peacock's tail feathers and took another bite of my cotton candy.

"I once shot up a container of cornbread," he responded earnestly. I turned and raised my eyebrows in a silent question, and he tried to hide a smile at my expression. "The cornbread wouldn't let me cut off a piece, so I had to shoot it. And through all that trouble, I STILL didn't get my piece of cornbread!"

I laughed at his explanation of cornbread shooting, and Joe dragged me to a ride. As we waited in line, I could see Bridget and Sloane standing next to a nearby hedge. I knew eavesdropping wasn't exactly a kind act, but I reminded myself that this was my _brother_. I strained to hear their conversation.

"Thanks for coming to the Carnival as my date, Bridget," I heard Sloane say. Bridget giggled in response.

"Anything for you, Sloane! And I wouldn't have come if you wouldn't."

"But what about Anthony? He seems to like you a lot."

"Sloane, Anthony and I broke up in high-school. I haven't seen him since. Not to mention, he has Kalel, and she seems to really like him."

"Mm, yeah. You know, Bridget..."

"Yes, my Sloane?"

"I like you a lot, maybe more than I should..." Sloane confessed.

I could practically hear Bridget grinning. "I like you a lot too, Sloane..." They were getting closer and closer...

"NEXT IN LINE!" the man at the ride shouted, and I jumped up in surprise.

"Are you okay, Lexi?" Joe asked, concern written on his face. I placed a hand over my speeding heart in an attempt to slow it down.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, and the man let us on the ride.

When the ride was over, Joe and I walked around the carnival for a bit. We ran into Sloane and Bridget, who both seemed very excited.

"Lexi, we need to tell you something!" Sloane announced, dragging a giggling Bridget behind him.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I heard a female voice ask behind me. I turned to see Kalel and Anthony, both holding a stuffed animal.

"We have something to tell you!" Bridget continued, laughing and holding up their intertwined fingers. "We're dating!"

I squealed in delight and ran over to Bridget, hugging her tightly. She returned the hug and we jumped around in a circle, laughing the entire time. I let go and Kalel came over and hugged Bridget, despite them only having met a few hours ago. I hugged Sloane and congratulated him, and Kalel and Joe followed suit. I noticed that Anthony was simply standing there with an annoyed look on his face. Kalel stalked over to him and hissed in his ear, "You know, you could _try_ to be happy for them. Or at least stop obviously undressing her with your eyes."

Anthony responded, "Kalel, you know I wouldn't do that!" But his eyes never left Bridget as he spoke.

I let out a frustrated sigh and glanced at the clock in my phone: 4:30. Wow, time flies when you're having fun... but Anthony was being so utterly stupid at that moment. It was obvious that Bridget had no interest in him, and Kalel was clearly pissed at him, but that didn't seem to faze him at all. I gave Bridget one last smile before grabbing Joe's hand and walking away, leaving them to hopefully sort it all out.

**OOOOOOOO, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?! Mmm, guess you'll have to wait till next week end! :D Anyway, here's Kalel's Polyvore link:**

**/cgi/set?id=56067416**

**So, go there, check it out, leave comments, and make me feel good. :) And leave a review! I love you all! Oh, and also, this is my last week of Summer Break. Next week, I have Band Camp (basically like school, but you just march and play your instrument all day instead), and after that, school. Sooo... yeah. Also, I know that several chapters back, I said that I had about 5 or six chapters left? I lied. :) I now estimate that I have, in fact, about 5 chapters left from here. Sooo... yeah. :) I'll see you all next weekend! Byezers!**


	27. Then It Hit Me

** Hey guys, I know this is a really short chapter, but SHIT GOES DOWN! Heh, ****soooo... ENJOY IT!**

It was 7:45 and the sun was setting. We had been at the carnival the entire day, enjoying the rides and entertainment. We visited a tent set up with a circus inside, ate even more cotton candy, and Joe insisted on riding the carousel twice; once on a unicorn, once on a duck.

The one thing that we hadn't done yet was ride the gigantic Ferris Wheel. We wanted to wait so that when we were riding up, we would see the sun set, and at the very top, the fireworks would start. I wasn't sure why they wanted to start the fireworks the moment it got dark, but I wasn't going to complain.

The Wheel was turning pretty slow, as to allow the people to enter and exit safely. I squeezed Joe's hand in anticipation as the family in front of us stepped into the moving cart. It was nearly dark, but we would still be able to see the tip of the sun sinking into the Pacific.

The man helped us into the cart and we slowly rose into the sky. I pressed my forehead against the bars, staring out into the slightly ruffled waters. The light glinted off the small waves, making the water shimmer in the dying rays. Sunsets and twilights were always mesmerizing to me, and the world always felt calmer.

The moment didn't last for long, however, and the once peaceful waves seemed to get louder as the sun sunk completely into the water. We were nearly to the top of the Ferris Wheel, and the world around us got darker by the second.

I could feel Joe's arm snake around my waist, and I glanced at him. His beautiful eyes glinted in the moonlight, and I quickly got lost in the many layers of brilliant blue. I didn't notice him moving closer until I felt him breathe around my face, and I flicked my gaze between his eyes. He tilted his head and moved in closer until our lips were only an inch apart, and I could smell the cotton candy he had eaten earlier. My eyes fluttered closed and I leaned in slowly, meeting him halfway. Our lips brushed together softly, barely making contact but it was enough for both of us to want more. We crashed our lips together, fiercely yet passionately, and we immediately began moving our lips together. Simple butterflies had nothing on the rave party going on in my stomach. This was the first kiss we shared, and it was making my heart beat like crazy. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he pulled my waist closer, diminishing the space between us. My hands tangled in his perfect brown hair and he moved a hand to the back of my neck, deepening the kiss. I wanted to stay like that forever, but after a few more seconds we ran out of air and had to break apart.

As I pulled a breath into my lungs, I looked back into Joe's eyes, and at that very moment the first firework exploded above our heads. I looked up and realized that we were at the very top of the Ferris Wheel. The colors shimmered all around us, captivating me with the simple beauty and perfection of the moment, before the next firework lit up the world again. I turned to look at Joe and he mirrored my gaze, cracking a huge grin. I began laughing in amazement, and he pulled me into his arms as he leaned against the bars. We looked into each other's eyes, laughing at the sparkling fireworks all around us, sitting at the top of the world.

We slowly began descending, and after a few minutes we were nearly to the ground. The moment we jumped out of the cart, the loudest firework of the evening sounded, signaling the end of the firecrackers. Once the last few sparkles shimmered out of existence, Joe grabbed my hand and brought it to his mouth, kissing the back of it gently. I grinned brightly as he lowered my hand and said, "Thank you for the lovely ride, m'lady."

We slowly walked back to the entrance of the carnival, still hand in hand. Sloane, Bridget, Anthony, and Kalel had left an hour earlier, so we just walked through the exit. As we went along the beach back to the parking lot, I skipped in the surf with Joe as he laughed and chased me.

The ride back home was silent yet completely comfortable. Every so often Joe would glance at me and smile, and I would mirror his actions. He parked along the front of my house and walked me up to the front door just like he had two nights ago. This time, however, as I turned to face him on the doorstep, he scooped me up into his arms and kissed me fiercely. I was surprised for a split second, but I immediately melted into his arms and kissed him back as soon as I realized what was happening. I felt like a zoo was running wild through my stomach.

He quickly set me down, however, and smiled at me lovingly. He slowly started walking down the walkway, but halfway down he turned to me and said, "Goodnight, my lovely Cheyenne. I'll see you tomorrow."

I stopped moving. Cheyenne. Cheyenne_. _Joe had gotten into his car and was already gone, but I barely noticed. Cheyenne.

_ I stuck out my hand. "Lexi Reiyne." I introduced myself quickly, making sure that I wouldn't be stuck with Shy-Anne again._

Lexi.

"_Hey, Cheyenne! Ready to go?" Joe asked, taking his hands out of his pockets. Something in my mind suddenly didn't feel right when he said my name. What was it?_

Cheyenne.

I never told him my real name.

But he knew it.

How?

And then it hit me.

** O_O OMG WHAT HIT HER? (Epiphany, people, I didn't make something hit her in the head.) Well, I guess you'll have to wait till next week, right? HAHAHA NOOOO CUZ NEXT CHAPTA'S GONNA BE IN IAN'S POV! Hah, I feel like such a troll... :D No, but next week there won't be much action. It'll just explain a ton of things. :) Anyway, this week is Band Camp, so that's not gonna be fun. I had 'Rookie Day' last Friday, and it was HORRIBLE. Oh, and my sister left for her first year of college today, so I'm a single child now... in a way... Anyway, a HUGE thanks to my reviewers, and my guest reviewer, who made me feel oh so extra special. LOVA YA! So, I'll (hopefully) see you all next Sunday! Byezers!**


	28. Ian's POV 6

**I'M BACK, BITCHES! And I'm better. :) I'm really sorry it took this long to upload, but between being sick, trying to catch up on homework, and football games, I haven't had the time. I hope I didn't loose too many of you. But here I am, and the story continues right where we left off. This chapter explains what's been going on with Ian/Joe lately. :)**

I drove away from her house, not looking back. She was probably confused as to why I had said _I'll see you tomorrow _when I knew she was going to go to her High School reunion. But I'll be there too. I'll tell her the truth tomorrow. I'll tell her who I am. I'll tell her how I've loved her for the last eight years of my life.

She probably doesn't know who I am yet. I mean, I made sure no one was going to tell her. After Anthony had come home from his coffee trip with Lexi, he immediately told Kalel that I was dating a girl she had known from Ohio. Kalel had come to me and asked about the details, how I had managed to date a girl that I had known for about a day, so I told her the whole story about how Lexi had gone to my High School, how she had moved away, and how she had returned and remembered 'Ian' but hadn't recognized me. Kalel recalled how Cheyenne had always mentioned her old best friend, Anthony, and her High School crush, Ian. And I knew that was true.

Lexi had completely surprised me when she had said how important I had been to her eight years earlier. I never knew before that she was interested in me, and if I had known, we could have been together back then.

So I told Kalel not to call me Ian in front of Cheyenne. She obviously wasn't all too happy to lie to her old best friend, but I convinced her when I told her that either way, Lexi was going to know who I was when she sees me at the reunion.

I was surprised when I went to Lexi's house and she mentioned that she had invited Sloane and Bridget. Bridget, as in Anthony's ex from High School? I wasn't sure if she would recognize me from six years ago, but she might recognize me from Smosh... and I'm sure that Sloane would recognize me. I knew I was in trouble, but I just had to find a way to tell the two about the situation without Lexi overhearing. The perfect opportunity came when Cheyenne went to her room to fix her makeup, and Sloane and Bridget came out of his room, laughing. They both immediately recognized me, but Bridget was confused as to why her ex's best friend was here, and Sloane was so star-struck he couldn't even speak. I explained the situation to them as quickly as I possibly could, and Bridget only agreed because she had seen how happy Lexi was when they went to the mall, and she didn't want to ruin Lexi's mood. She was still incredibly reluctant, though, and I think Cheyenne may have picked up on how nervous Bridget was. Sloane just stood there, but I think he still got the message.

At the carnival, I saw how Anthony was acting towards Bridget, and it really pissed me off. I could see that Kalel was too and Lexi and Bridget were annoyed, but Sloane never realized. Then when he started talking to Anthony about Smosh, Anthony was clearly surprised and glanced at me, wondering how Sloane didn't know who I was, but I simply shook my head at him, not wanting to explain it.

I hadn't even realized about the cotton candy until after I had ordered, but I remembered Lexi mentioning once that she only liked blue cotton candy at a get-to-know-your-peers circle back in High School. I hoped it wasn't a giveaway, but she probably didn't even remember ever saying anything about her cotton candy preferences.

And then the Ferris Wheel; oh, the Ferris Wheel... I still can't believe how perfectly everything was timed with the setting sun and the fireworks around us, but it was amazing. And the kiss. It was fantastic. Spur-of-the-moment, but I think that made it even better... and Cheyenne leaned into the kiss as well, something I had been dreaming of for about seven years...

Seven years. It's been seven years. Seven years since she saw Ian. But tomorrow, that would all change. Yes, tomorrow; tomorrow, she'll know.

**I hope that's cleared a few things up. :) Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'll update next weekend, which will be in Lexi's POV again. And after that chapter, it'll be the day of the reunion. Now I don't want to reveal too much, but let's just say that SOMEONE'S GONNA GET DRUNK! And it's gonna be soooo much fun to write in their POV! But anyway, I need to go now, I'll see you all soon!**

****water ballons


	29. Too Much Sense

**Hey guys. I know I haven't seen you in a while, but Fanfiction is being a piece of shit right now, and it's not letting me update Name's Memory. I've tried every weekend and it's not working. I don't know why I'm wasting my time right now, it's probably not gonna work... but I really want you guys to get this chapter, I suppose. If anyone knows what's going on with fanfiction or how to fix it PLEASE tell me! Though I suppose if you're reading this, it fixed itself... God, I've written this Author's Note about 50 times now... But I'm hoping it works now, so if it does, here's chapter 29, it's Lexi's big epiphany chapter. Not much action, only realization. Blah blah blah. I just hope I haven't lost readers... but anyway, if it works, here's the chapter. Please enjoy, I think I did a pretty good job on it.**

No.

Just, no.

It's not right.

It's not possible.

Simply not possible.

How could he? How could he just lie to me like that? He obviously knew who I was.

But it made sense. Too much sense. It explains so much.

_His smile fell from his face when I said my name. He seemed surprised and somewhat... scared. "Reiyne..." I heard him murmur, sounding like it was the first time in forever since he had said that name. "I'm, uh, JOE!" He practically shouted at me. Funny, I was SURE I knew him from somewhere, but I didn't know any 'Joe'._

Of course I didn't know any Joe! Of course I knew him from somewhere... How could I have forgotten those beautiful blue eyes? He must have recognized my name. It made sense. Too much sense. Was he glad to see me?

_I realized something; the text didn't have a signature. Funny, everyone I knew had a signature, but why didn't Joe?_

He must have realized. Realized that it still had his real name on it. He must have deleted his signature before texting me. He must have. It made sense. Too much sense.

Had I been paying attention to where I was, I would have realized that I had gone down my driveway and was now walking down a path I had walked two days ago.

_Sloane paused the video at an image of Anthony lying on the ground shirtless and a rag of cloth tied around his head, looking like he was about to eat a handful of dirt._

_"This is 'Driving me Crazy'. It's one of my favorites."_

_"Why... is he shirtless? On the ground? Eating dirt?"_

_"He's going to his house to get help to save Ia-" Sloane cut off as the doorbell rang._

I had been close. So close. Close to finding out who he was. But he had come. He interrupted it. I didn't realize. But it made sense. Too much sense.

_Joe rested his chin in his hands and looked up at me. "Did you have problems with jerks?" he asked, and I swore his eyes flicked up to my ear. How did he know? No, no, it was just my imagination. It had to be._

It hadn't been. Of course it hadn't been. It made sense. Too much sense. Of course he knew. He knew it all. He always knew it all.

_"So, was this other guy your friend, too?" Joe asked, taking a sip of his Sprite._

Oh God. He had asked about himself. That didn't make any sense. But of course it made sense. Too much sense. He had tricked me. Tricked me into telling him. About how I felt.

_Joe grasped my hand tightly for a second before letting go again. What on earth was that all about? And it seemed familiar, somehow... what was I talking about? I'm crazy. I'm loony. I've lost it. How can touching my hand be familiar?_

What? No. That couldn't be right. Could it?

_"Cheyenne, you can't ignore something like that!" he commanded again and reached out to her hand, grasping it tightly._

Dear Lord. It was right. I had remembered. Subconsciously. But still. And it had made sense. Too much sense.

_"Joe, it's fine! I'm fine, see? All I got was this small scar. And besides, you weren't there, so it's not like you could have done anything, right?"_

Wrong. I had been wrong. So wrong. But he had done so much. He had saved my life. How could he blame himself for such a small thing?

_"I, uh, need to go to the restroom..." he trailed off, eyes still locked on something behind me. "I'll be right back."_

What had he gone to do?

_"Lexi! Long time, no see!" Anthony joked, gently punching my arm. "I just came in to reserve a table for tomorrow, when I saw I- Joe, and he wanted me to meet someone. I had no idea it was you!"_

Oh. Right. He had seen Anthony. And that would have ruined everything. Anthony would have seen. Anthony would have told. So he had to stop Anthony before Anthony stopped him.

_"So, Joe," I started, setting my fork down for a bit. "Where are you from?"_

_Joe swallowed his food and set his fork down to, looking uneasily to the side. "Oh... I'm from, uh... Sacramento..."_

_I sat up straight as he said that. "Oh, really? I knew I had seen you before! Which high school did you go to?"_

_"Er... I don't remember..."_

_"Well, it wasn't Wilcox High, was it? There weren't any 'Joe's there."_

_"Uh, yeah, I don't think it was Wilcox..."_

_His reluctance to answer questions about his high school seemed to be growing._

Of course it had been. And of course it had been Wilcox. I should have known. It made sense. Too much sense.

_"So..." I said slyly, leaning forward and resting my chin in my hands. "Any cute girls at your old high school?"_

_Joe looked at me but quickly brought his eyes down again, muttering "Yeah, one."_

_I reached over and grabbed his hand; it startled him and he quickly looked up at me again._

_"Joe, I told you about Ian because I trust you. Please, trust me. Tell me about this mystery girl." I smiled and pulled my hand back again._

_Joe sighed and looked me in the eyes. "I - don't remember her name... but she was amazing, the most beautiful girl I had ever seen then. She was really shy, yet really nice, and was always willing to help someone, even if they weren't her friend. We weren't close, though, and she moved away before high school ended."_

_I just kept looking him in the eyes for a bit longer, then slowly said, "I moved away before high school ended too..."_

_Joe laughed nervously. "Heh, what a coincidence! Anyway, this restaurant is really good, don't you think?"_

Had he been talking about me? Probably not, and yet it made sense. Too much sense. Like always.

_"I'm not going on a date, Sloane, I'm simply catching up with my best friend from seven years ago who happens to be a guy!"_

_"Yeah, yeah, if that's what floats your boat. I wonder what Ia-"_

_"Sorry, Sloane, I need to go._

Wow. Again. So close. But always so far. Always.

_"Yeah, about that, what's all this 'stardom' all about? Sloane's watched a few of your videos, but apart from that I know next to nothing."_

_Anthony gave me a smile that seemed slightly... nervous? "Heh, yeah, I'm in a two-man web show called 'Smosh'. We do comedy sketches on YouTube."_

_"Niiice... are you well-known?"_

_"Yeah, we're the third most subscribed channel on YouTube!"_

It should have been a clue. Had I simply asked one more question, had I simply dug deeper, he would have told me. He would have.

_"Isn't it a small world?"_

_"Smaller than you think, Lex..." he muttered quietly into the phone._

_"What was that?"_

_"Oh, uh... nothing, Cheyenne!"_

He slipped up. But he had saved himself. It made sense. Too much sense. It was a small world. Too small for my own good.

I still wasn't paying attention to where I was. Had I taken a moment to look around, I would have realized I was standing in front of that little drug store, about to push the door open.

_Anthony cocked his head thoughtfully to the side, a look of confusion flicking over his slightly Hispanic face. "Ian Hecox? But he never said... never mind, just forget it._

I was stupid. Oh so stupid. It was obvious. It made sense. It all made sense. Too much sense.

_This relationship was strange... not in a bad way, of course! But with all my former relationships, we were at the 'twirling, giggling, "Better, now that you're here!"' stage several weeks into the relation. With Joe, however, we were there after two days of meeting. It was almost like I knew him longer..._

Of course I did. Of course I did! How did I miss it? How?! Two days. Only two! But it wasn't. It had been years. So many years.

_Bridget was eying Joe with a slightly uncomfortable look in her eyes, Joe seemed a bit nervous as he glanced between the two, and Sloane simply stared at him with his mouth open and his eyes wide._

They would have known. They would have recognized him. It made sense. Too much sense. He must have told them. Told them what he was doing. How could they agree? How could they keep that from me?

_"Oh my god, I can't believe I'm standing next to Anthony Padilla! And he knows me! I'm a HUGE fan of Smosh, you guys rock!"_

_"Oh?" Anthony questioned, and he raised his eyebrows at Joe. He shook his head lightly at Anthony and then turned to me, a grin stretching across his face._

Oh, Sloane. Sloane. Yes, of course he would have recognized him. Of course that would have confused Anthony. Of course. It made sense. Too much sense. Why Joe responded like that.

_It seemed like Joe knew little details about me, what I liked, and so on and so forth. I absolutely hated pink cotton candy, but I was a sucker for blue cotton candy. It was almost as if he knew me... but that's impossible, of course. We met two days ago._

He remembered. He remembered all those things. From all those years ago. Yes, he knew me. Just as I knew him. But clearly, I didn't know him enough. Or I would have known. I would have seen. It made sense. Too much sense.

I didn't realize it, but I had simply been standing in a deserted aisle in the drug store. Of course no one else was there; it was nearly midnight! Not even the cashier was there.

_He froze and turned to me as he started the car. "You're going to the reunion tomorrow?"_

_"You're going to the reunion tomorrow?"_

_"The reunion tomorrow?"_

"_Reunion?"_

Oh dear lord. Of course. Of course, of course, of course. He'd be there. And he knew I would be there too. Was going to tell me tomorrow? When I had realized that he had gone to my old high school? When I would have made the connection? Was that what he had been counting on?

But I had been smart. Clever. I had figured it out. Without his help. Now, I knew. I grabbed a box off the shelf, threw some money on the deserted counted, and ran out the store. It made sense. Too much sense. But I'll beat him at his own game. I'll beat Ian Hecox.

**Lexi figured it all out. Yay for her. Anyway, if this does upload, what are y'all gonna be for halloween? I'm going all out with my costume this year... gotta rainbow punk wig, a rainbow tutu, rainbow feather earrings, rainbow eye makeup, a sky blue shirt, and sky blue tights. Any guesses as to who I am? Anyway, if this DOES update (I'm hoping to God it does...), there should be a new update next weekend as well. Hopefully. FF is pissing me off right now. So I'll see you all later. Hopefully. Happy Reading, I'll Be Trying To Update! ;)**


	30. Figured Him Out

**OMG IT WORKS AGAIN! I'M SOOO HAPPY! Anyways, sorry that this is a short chapter, I had to write it all today and since I live in Ohio, Halloween was moved to today because of Hurricane Sandy. So, I apologize for this short filler chapter, but what can I do... I do have a polyvore link for Lexi, but I can't post it now because my Dad's really mad at me for using my laptop, so I need to hurry.**

I stepped on the concrete pathway leading to the double doors of my old High School. It was still exactly how I remembered it; the modern, low roof, the large windows substituting for walls, the overhang above the auditorium. I breathed in a deep breath to try to calm myself. This was the moment of truth. But really, this wasn't only about Ian - okay, it was - but still, I'd be able to see all my old friends again! Oh, wait. That's only Anthony and Bridget. Right. But I guess I'll be able to show all those bullies how I'm doing. How happy I am and how beautiful I was. Yeah, as if!

I glanced down and smoothed out my lacey green dress and adjusted the small brown belt around my waist. Bridget was right; the dress did look good on me. And the beautiful butterfly-like shoes were still beautiful, fit perfectly, and were comfortable enough to spend a lot of time in. I was also wearing the small jeweled ball-studs that I had bought with Bridget as well My nails were painted different shades of green with different colored polka-dots on each one. They were holding a small, green clutch purse that was almost the same shade as my eyes. My real eyes. Not with contacts in them.

Speaking of which... I threw them out. All of them. Which means... yes, I was wearing my glasses. I had always kept a pair with the correct prescription with me, just in case I ran out of my contacts and couldn't get more right away. Even still, I hadn't worn them since I had moved out of California. Now, however, I had my HUGE nerd glasses covering my eyes.

As I slowly approached the doors, I fingered my long, wavy, dark brown hair. Yup. After I had sprinted back home from the store last night, I had opened the box I had bought and took out the bottle of brown hair dye. After my hair was covered in the chemicals, washed out, and returned to a shade almost exactly like my natural hair, I let it air-dry and didn't straighten it. I must admit, the large, natural waves looked somewhat _pretty_.

So as I entered the doors and walked slowly towards the courtyard where we were having the reunion, I felt somewhat strange. It had been a VERY long time since I had felt so... real. Not fake. I still don't know why I had decided to wear my glasses again and dye my hair back to its natural color, but I'm glad I did. I suppose it was really Ian who made me do it. I really don't know why though.

I rounded a corner and the courtyard finally came into view. It was a pretty large field with several trees scattered around it and a bush or two. There were already many people in the courtyard, standing around a table with food or already chatting with their old classmates. I took in another deep breath before pushing the door to the courtyard open. Almost no one looked up, but the few who did stopped and took another look. It was clear that no one knew who I was.

"LEXIII!" I heard a squeal before being knocked off my feet by Bridget. She hugged me really tightly before letting go and saying, "YOU DYED YOUR HAIR! And you're wearing glasses! Please stay with me; you're pretty much the only person I remember here! Well, except for... you know..." she trailed off. I realized what she meant as soon as Anthony sauntered over with his hands in his jean pockets.

"Hey, Chey. Nice hair and glasses. You look almost like your old self again! How's it going?" he asked, hugging me as well. I looked at them in disbelief.

"How's it going? HOW'S IT GOING?! You guys LIED to me! How do you think I felt when I realized that Joe was IAN FREAKING HECOX!?"

Bridget shrunk back before mumbling a quick, "You found out?"

"OF COURSE I FOUND OUT!"

I was about to continue, but I saw a certain brown-haired boy talking with several other people. I growled in my throat and prepared to stomp over to him, but he turned as saw me. It was obvious that he recognized me instantly, and it was also obvious that he knew I had figured him out.

**For those of you who guessed that I was Rainbow Dash, you are correct! :) It was fun to be her for an evening. I'll try to respond to you all individually tomorrow. BTW, I'm also doing NaNoWriMo, so I need to balance both that story and this one, plus homework... but we'll see what happens. :) I hope you all had a great Halloween, Happy Reading, I'll Be Writing! ;)**


	31. You Found Me

**Hey, guys! How are you all? I hope you've been having a lovely week! Just a few small things before we begin: Firstly, I'm really sorry, but I made Anthony a complete asshole in this chapter. :( He'll get better later, though. Also, since I'm only 14 and have also vowed to never touch alcohol in my life, I really can't be sure how many beers it would take to get an average person drunk. I know it's different for everyone, but still... My mom wasn't much help since she's never gotten drunk, so I had to do my own research. I hope it's accurate enough. Anyway, I think we can keep the rest of this all for the author's note at the bottom, so I'll let you all get right to the story, hmm? :)**

I flipped my hair behind my shoulder and began stalking towards Ian. He realized what I was doing and quickly said goodbye to the people he was talking to, walking away. I was about follow him, when I felt a hand grab my shoulder and pull me back. I turned and saw 3 men looking at me in disbelief. They were all big, buff, and I recognized them instantly; they were the same three men who had attacked me in the parking lot that one day.

"Well, well, well, is this really Shy-Anne we have here?" one of them sneered, lifting a hand to my cheek.

"Leave me alone. You've already hurt me enough." I spat, jerking my head away from his touch.

"Oh, have we?" one of them cooed. "I do believe we cut your ear, did we not?"

The one holding my face reached up to my ear and pulled the hair back roughly, revealing the long white scar. He chuckled softly at the sight of it. "Well, boys, it seems we did. And you grew up to be a very pretty girly, didn't you?"

I growled and tried to bite his hand, but he moved faster than I did and put his hand back on my shoulder. "Ah, you're also feisty. You're very different than you were eight years ago."

"Back off." a firm voice commanded from behind the three men. They turned and parted to reveal... Ian. Oh dear Lord. They turned back to me and smirked.

"This situation seems oh so very familiar. What, have you been her personal bodyguard for all this time?"

Ian simply took a threatening step forward. "Did you not hear me? I said BACK OFF."

The men chuckled but let me go, saying, "We'll see you around then, Shy-Anne." I growled after them, and when I turned back to face Ian, he had already disappeared into the crowd. I sighed in annoyance but continued weaving through the people, greeting people I recognized but still looking for Ian.

"Hey, Lex." Bridget said as she slid up to me again about thirty minutes later. "How's the reunion going for you?" I sighed in response.

"I'm trying to find Ian." I could see that Bridget was watching Anthony with uncomfortable eyes as I was talking. "What's up with you and Anthony?"

Bridget turned to me. "He's following me like a lovesick puppy. Why can't he accept the fact that I don't want to be with him anymore? He has Kalel, and I highly doubt he cares how she feels about this. And I have Sloane, but that isn't stopping him. Gosh, I think the fame has really gotten to his head."

I could see how even though Anthony was talking with one of his old friends, he kept glancing over to Bridget every few seconds. I frowned at him in disappointment, but he didn't seem to see as he said goodbye and started coming over to us.

"Go get a drink or something, I'll talk to Anthony. This really needs to stop." I hissed in Bridget's ear, and she smiled at me gratefully before hurrying over to the drinks. Anthony was started to turn to follow Bridget, but I called out, "Anthony!", and he walked over to me.

"Hey, Chey, what's up?" he asked, his eyes still on Bridget. I glared at him.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked, tapping my foot impatiently.

"What do you mean?" he responded, still not looking at me.

"ANTHONY!" I snapped at him, which got his attention. "You know what I mean! I'm talking about Bridget!" He looked at me innocently, but I knew better. "You are both in a relationship, and she's happy, so why are you chasing her?"

He shuffled his feet. "Because I want her."

I stared at him in complete disbelief. "You're kidding me. Are you really that self-centered? SHE DOESN'T WANT YOU. She's happy with Sloane!"

"That's what she _thinks_. I could make her much happier than he could."

"Oh my God, you're so impossible! What about Kalel?"

"She'll understand." he said, waving it off. My mouth fell open.

"Anthony... you're not the guy who was my best friend. My best friend would never hurt a girl like that."

"I'm not hurting her!"

"Dude, have you even _looked_ at Kalel since you started chasing Bridget? She really cares about you, Anthony, and it obviously kills her when you act like that."

"Well, it's not my fault that she's overly jealous!" he almost shouted, clearly getting agitated.

"Oh, so it's okay if she looks at other guys like she wants to pounce on them?"

"Of course not. Kalel's mine."

"But it's okay for you to?"

"Um, YEAH."

It took all of my being to not slap him. "What the HELL, Anthony?! How can you POSSIBLY think that?! What makes you think that you're so much better than everyone else?

He shrugged. "I'm famous."

I did slap him when he said that. My palm burned like a bitch, but it was totally worth it to see Anthony's expression. I couldn't believe that he could actually believe that! Before he could say anything in response, I spun on my heel and walked over to Bridget, who was still at the drinks table. She was wide-eyed, and had clearly seen what had just happened.

"What did he say?" she asked, clearly surprised at what I had done.

"He said that he had the right to treat Kalel like dirt and chase after you, simply because he's famous." I said moodily. She scowled over at Anthony, who was still trying to register what had happened.

"Asshole. I can't believe I ever dated him."

"It's the fame that got to him. Speaking of fame, have you seen Ian?"

Bridget looked a bit uncomfortable. Then again, she had looked late that often lately. "Yeah, I saw him leave the drink table right as I got to it..."

"But..." I urged her on.

"Lexi, he was clearly tipsy, and he took five bottles of beer with him. I think he left the courtyard, but I'm not sure where he would go..."

I gasped and quickly ran to the courtyard door (or as close to running as I could get without tripping over my heels). I had no idea where he would have gone either, but he was probably still inside the school. I started opening doors to random classrooms searching for him, but it was fruitless.

I had already combed the 1st and 2nd wings, both floors, and it had been a good 15 minutes. I highly doubted that he would have left the school or have gone back to the courtyard unless he was getting more beer, but 4 bottles took a while to drink. Not to mention, if he really DID take 4 bottles, he would be too drunk to find his way back to the courtyard.

I decided to skip the 3rd wing and went straight to the theatre department. He was always pretty interested in acting and directing and stuff like that, so he spent a lot of time in the auditorium and places like that. I walked to the double doors leading straight to the stage of the auditorium and pushed it open; the incredibly large room was empty.

I sighed and walked out to the middle of the stage, looking around the auditorium. Where could Ian have gone? I slowly made my way to the edge of the stage and slipped of the side. The moment my feet touched the ground, an incredibly slurred voice echoed through the auditorium. I turned to face the direction of the voice and saw Ian sitting on the floor, leaning against the stairs leading up to the stage, a place where I wouldn't have seen him from above. Five beer bottles, with three of them empty and the fourth only half full, surrounded him. A drunken smile was on his face and his eyes were fogged from the alcohol, but he still was somewhat aware of his surroundings. His voiced still seemed to be echoing around the auditorium, and the slurred sentence was still ringing in my ears.

"So, you found me."

**I really like this chapter... :) Anyway, as promised, here's the polyvore link to Lexi's reunion outfit:**

**/lexi_goes_to_reunion/set?id=62708245**

**Also, I'm doing NaNoWriMo, and I only have 3,043 words so far... pathetic, I know... so I really need to work on that. Next chapter MIGHT be in Ian's POV, which will be fun since he's really drunk right now. But writing both Name's Memory and Mask (My NaNoWriMo story) will probably be a little much, so I really can't guarantee that I'll update next weekend. Also, I'm in my school's fall play, so I often have rehearsals until 6:00, so I don't have much time for writing. But I'll try, I swear! Anyway, Happy Reading, I'll Be Writing! ;)**


	32. Ian's POV 7

**Hey, y'all! So I'm sorry that this chapter is really short, but it was really hard to write. My spell check had a spaz attack with this chapter. So, um, there's a bit more cursing than usual, but nothing real major. Also, please remember that I'm only 14 and haven't (and aren't planning on EVER) getting drunk, so this isn't from experience. At all. Plus, I highly doubt that a drunken mind can clear that fast, but... it was magical alcohol. So THERE. Anyway, please enjoy! (BTW, if you haven't realized yet, it's in IAN'S POV.)**

Booze.

And, like, beer.

I love booze and beer.

Heh, that's a strange word... booze... boooooooooooze... heh, it kinda sounds like boobs.

Hey, what am I doing here?

What happened to the reunion? Did everyone DIE?

I'm in the auditorium, I think. I'm not sure... but there's more beer all around me! No booze, though... I want booze... but I only have beer.

Lexi. Oh, shit. Crappy crappy cappidydo. I'm totally screwed.

Did that rhyme?

Totally.

But wait, Lexi... there were those, like, _things_, all around her. And they were all big and buuuff! I totally wanna look like that! But then maybe she'll like me.

Beer.

She knows who I am.

But WHO CARES? She was gonna like, find out today anyway.

Anthony prolly blabbed to her... Antonio spilled the beans... heh, it's like he's a MEXICAN!

Cuz Mexicans love beans. Like, yeeeeeeah...

OMG DOOR!

I HEARD A DOOR!

LOL, never mind, it was prolly just, like, the janitor or sumthin. Wonder if he'll clean up my vomit.

Not that I did vomit. But, like, in case. Totally.

Janitors wear heels now? Like, green heels? Or are they orange... I can't tell... but they're hanging. Like, feet away. Like, legs. Sexy legs. Sexy janitor?

Oh, wait, it's, um, whatsherface. Like, Cheyenne. I think. She's totally hot. I think.

Isn't that Lexi? But that's Cheyenne... OMG IT'S LIKE THE SAME PERSON!

"So, you found me?" I slurrrrr. Maybe. I don't think it actually all came out.

Now she's standing. When did she jump? It's like, miles from the floor to the stage. British people use, like, kilograms, right? How long's a kilogram? Am I a kilogram tall?

Kangaroo.

LOL, she be lookin at me. And I be lookin at my booze. No, it's not booze, it's beer. Totally different, right?

Is she talking?

"IAN HECOX!" I hear a voice scream. It's, like really loud. And angry. I don't like being angry. It makes my pajamas sad.

"S' my name, like, don't say it too much, it'll stretch. That's not right..." I mumble, and grab my beer. Since when was beer orange?

Lexi was walking towards me, but the floor's all topsy-turvy, how can she walk on that? Oh, she's talking.

"How could you lie to me like that?! Do you know how horrible I feel? I told you all that stuff about how I felt at that dinner, and God, I'm so embarrassed!"

I started giggling, but I couldn't help it. "Le-Lexiiii, you're cute wheeeen you mad. Like, sexy. I love you."

She narrowed her eyes in fury. "I'll believe that when you're sober. But, why? Why did you do all this?"

I tried standing up, but I tripped on the stairs. Woah, were those always there? Hey, there's a bottle in front of me... I grabbed it and stood up.

"Cheeeey, Ido really know... like, I thought you didn like LIKE like Ian, so I became Joe. Is that short for Josephine? I'M A GIRL?!" I shouted, trying to take a swing of beer, but Lex grabbed it outta my hands. My hands are big...

"Ian..." her voice was a little softer. "Ian, you know I liked you. Hell, I've LOVED you for the last eight years!"

"But, like, we haven't seen each other in forever. I thought you forgot 'bout meeee..." I wailed, and tried to reach for the beer again. She pulled it away.

"No more beer, Ian, you're really drunk."

I laughed. "Lexxx, that's BOOZE. Not beer."

Out of, like, nowhere, she dropped my precious beautiful bottle o' booze and grabbed my face, kissing me hard.

My head cleared in an instant.

Oh dear Lord, what have I done?

**Well, that was... strange... Anyway, although I only have a 2-day-school-week this week for Thanksgiving, my sister's coming back from college and we have a large dinner to go to, so I can't promise a chapter next weekend. Also, my NaNoWriMo story is going horribly (I've written 3,713 words, and on the 18th we're supposed to have 30,000 words. Yay me.) So I REALLY want to focus on that, and I guess my personal goal is to find enough time to write 10,000 words before the end of the month. :| I highly doubt even THAT will happen. Anyway, please enjoy Thanksgiving, if you're getting together with family, have fun, and to all those who have lost everything in Hurricane Sandy, my heart goes out to all of you. Thank you, and Happy Reading, I'll Be Writing! ;)**


	33. Sorted All Of This Out

**Heey, guys... let me start by saying that I'm REALLY sorry that I haven't updated since before Thanksgiving, but there's been way too much drama in my life. I got my first boyfriend, my first kiss, and my first breakup since then... and with my friends, A's been dating B and they're all happy and cute, C, D, E, and F all like G, but H likes D even though H is dating I and D dated J for about 10 days until J broke up with D a day after D's birthday, and K, L, M, and N all like C, but then L got back together with O but now L is with P, and F is breaking everyone's hearts, and Q is pining after R, who totally doesn't like Q, but R thinks that S might like R and R isn't sure if R likes S yet. And T and U are also together and cute. And that's been my past few weeks in a nutshell right there. But anyway, here's the next chapter, I hope you like it.**

"No more beer, Ian, you're really drunk." I said calmly, pulling the bottle away from his searching fingers. He laughed and flicked his brown hair to the side, his eyes trying to focus on my face.

"Lexxx, that's BOOZE. Not beer."

I'm still not sure why I did what I did next. Maybe it was the way he was swaying on his feet, maybe it was the look on his face, or maybe it was the sheer stupidity of his last statement, but I dropped the bottle of beer and rushed towards him. I didn't hear the bottle smash as it hit the ground, since I was too busy grabby Ian's face and kissing him like there was no tomorrow.

He didn't respond. After a few seconds, he even pulled away, and I stepped back, my heart sinking slightly. Did he not like me? His face was twisted in confusion, but the cloud over his eyes had slipped away.

He looked up at me, pain filling his expression. "Oh my God, Cheyenne, what have I done? I never should have done this to you! I'm so-"

I cut him off with a quick kiss, but quickly pulled away again. "It's okay, Ian."

No, it's really not." he said sharply, grabbing my arm. "I never should have lied to you. I never should have pretended."

A question was lingering on the tip of my tongue, but I was still hesitant to ask. Slowly, I questioned, "Just tell me one thing. Were you lying, were you pretending, when you said that you loved me?"

He stopped before answering, "No. I really do. I love you."

I sighed in relief and pushed my lips against his once more. This time, there was no hesitation and no holding back. The kiss was laced with passion and relief, and it filled me up with an amazing feeling. I was only aware of Ian, and the auditorium was sinking into nothingness as I wrapped one hand around the back of his neck and the other tangled in his hair. His arms pulled my waist close to him and held me there, like he was never going to let go, and I didn't want him to.

But, as always, he had to, and he gently unwrapped his arms and stepped away. "Cheyenne Alexandra Reiyne," he started, making me raise an eyebrow, "will you be the girlfriend of Ian Hecox?"

I grinned brightly, shaking my head up and down frantically before pulling him into a hug. I squeezed him very tightly and when I let go, he had to take a deep breath of air.

"Now, Lex, I'm incredibly glad that we've sorted all of this out, but... what are we going to do about Anthony and Kalel?"

**I know it's really short and I'm sorry... but anyway, MAJOR STUFF: Firstly, Name's Memory will be over in a chapter or two, but there WILL be an epilogue. No sequel. Sorry if you wanted one... but I really don't think I would be able to write one. If you want to write your own continuation, be my guest, but PLEASE send it to me or something, since I would love to read it! MORE MAJOR STUFF: I've edited the prologue, so please go back and reread it! I only changed it so it would be easier to wrap up the story. Lastly, I'm expecting to be able to update next weekend, but no guarantees. Also, there's a pretty good chance that the epilogue will only come out in 2013, but I'll give you more details next chapter. And as always, Happy Reading, I'll Be Writing! ;)**


	34. Name's Memory

**This is it.**

**This is IT.**

**The final chapter of Name's Memory.**

**Of course there will be an epilogue, though, and that's where I'll put all of my sappy goodbyes and stuff, but this is the last ACTUAL chapter.**

**Let me start off by saying 2 things about last week: 1.) For those of you who read the last chapter between 11:00 Sunday and 2:00 Monday, you may have caught my, ahem, _error_. It was a complete accident, and I was just lying in my bed at 1:30 AM, contemplating life, when I though,_ H__ey, I don't remember typing that word. Uh, DID I type that word? Or did I ty- oh shit. _So I went back, and sure enough... well, all in all, I fixed the error. Yay.**

**2.) OMFGOMFGOMFG YOU KNOW HOW I WAS TALKING ABOUT A AND B AND C AND ALL MY FRIENDS LAST WEEK WELL C AND G GOT TOGETHER ON FRIDAY AND OMFGOMFGOMFG THEY'RE SO CUTE OMG NO ONE THOUGH G WOULD SAY YES BUT SHE DID OMFG!**

**But anyway... please enjoy!**

We were slowly walking back to the reunion in the courtyard, and my arm was hooked into Ian's. My head was resting on his shoulder, and even though I had a content smile on my face, my head was still going a thousand miles a minute. I was still thinking about how crazy my life had been for the last few days, how Ian had crashed back into my life and make it interesting again. He reminded me of who I really was and brought me back down to the reality of being loved even if my hair wasn't platinum blonde or pin straight, or that I needed glasses to be able to see. I had been a Barbie doll, but Ian had loved me before that. When I was Cheyenne.

However, reality brought me back even further when we walked into the courtyard again. No one had seemed to have noticed us leaving, but I caught sight of Bridget and Anthony talking quickly and quietly in the corner. I smiled in triumph when I saw the bright pink hand shaped mark on the side of his cheek. Ducking down, I pulled Ian behind a plant with me so we could listen to their conversation without being seen by them. I had to strain my ears, but it was obvious what they were talking about.

"Anthony, please, just leave me alone!"

"No, Bridget! Just please... please listen to me."

"What the hell could you possibly have to say?! I LOVE SLOANE. YOU HAVE KALEL. What can you not understand about that?"

"Bridget, I... I want you back."

"No."

"Then give me a reason why!"

"Kal-"

"Something other than _them_."

At this point I could see Bridget getting really mad, and I was about to stand up to intervene when Ian's strong hand grabbed my arm. I looked over to him to see his big blue eyes warning me to stay where I was. I silently signed and crouched back down completely.

"Well, how's this for a reason? I DON'T LIKE YOU. I DON'T LOVE YOU. I NEVER LOVED YOU. I NEVER WILL LOVE YOU."

I couldn't see Anthony's face, but by the fact that he was silent, I guessed the message finally got through to him.

"Do- do you really mean that?" he asked so quietly that I barely heard it, but I did. Bridget nodded vigorously.

"Yes. With all my heart."

Anthony shuffled his feet awkwardly for a few seconds before saying, "Then... I guess I'm sorry. I didn't realize you felt so strongly about it."

"It's... it's okay. You might want to apologize to Kalel instead, though. I can't imagine her being happy about how you've been acting lately." Bridget chided, putting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, I guess I should."

Bridget nodded once before walking away, but Anthony gently caught her elbow. "Bridget... can we still be friends?"

She hesitated for a moment, but then quietly responded, "I guess..."

Anthony pulled her into a hug, and she slowly put her arms around him to, but the moment she did Anthony let go of her. "I'll uh, go find Ian." Anthony said before quickly walking away. Bridget looked after him for a few seconds, but once he completely disappeared into the crowd she let out a relieved sigh and made her way back over to the drink table. I turned to Ian and saw him watching me with a smile on his face. He put his arms around my neck and pulled me a bit closer.

"They sorted it out." he whispered, and even though I could still smell the alcohol on his breath, his eyes seemed completely free of the hazy cloud that had covered them half an hour ago. I smiled in response and locked my hand together around his back.

"They did, didn't they..." I answered, moving a little closer until our noses were almost touching. He smirked but kept his bright blue eyes on my green ones. I stared back, getting lost in the deep pools, unconsciously moving to rest my forehead against his. He smiled bigger, making his eyes scrunch up slightly in the corners.

At that moment, he looked so beautiful. His clear eyes gazing at me, his forehead wrinkling against mine, the way his stubble felt when I moved my hands from around his back to cup his face. His hands fell to my waist, and he slowly leaned in further, his lips lightly brushing mine. I stayed still, and he pushed his mouth against me in a passionate kiss.

I felt fireworks exploding in my chest again. The feel of his mouth on mine was amazing and I wanted to stay attached to him forever. He started moving his lips and I moved in response, gently pushing his head against the wall of the courtyard. Emotions that I had bottled up for years came out through that kiss; anger, regret, sadness... and hope. Hope for us. Hope for the future. Hope for a day I could finally be with Ian. Hope for Name's Memory.

**AHHHH THE FEELS SO MANY FEELS!**

**Well, it's 3 minutes until midnight, and I need to post this today, so bye!**

**P.S. Epilogue will be posted in 2013.**


	35. Outro

**So.**

**This is really truly it.**

**No more updates. No more chapters. No more Lexi and Ian and Joe and Bridget and Sloane and Anthony and Kalel. Actually, they all ended last chapter.**

**This epilogue isn't about them. So if you're happy with how the entire story is now, you can stop reading if you want. Remember how, I think it was last chapter, I said I updated the prologue? Well, if you haven't read it yet, go read it. You need to if you want to understand the epilogue. So like I said before, this has nothing to do with the last 34 chapters. Kind of. Only the first. Sort of.**

**I'm wrapping up the loose ends from the prologue. So really, you don't HAVE to read this. I recommend that you do, though, since I find the whole dream-is-real idea very interesting. And right now, I'm in shock, I think, which is why I sound soulless. Please, enjoy this epilogue.**

Oh. Right.

I'm not Cheyenne Lexi Reiyne.

I haven't even been to California.

Yeah, I'm just a little girl with a big dream to one day meet Ian and Anthony themselves.

But that's never going to happen, now, is it?

Nope, I just spent my entire night dreaming about a fictional girl who went back to her home state and rediscovered the man of her dreams. She doesn't exist. And the chances of that happening are so small.

I yawned and stretched out before sitting up. When my eyes finally fluttered open, I realized - I wasn't in my bed at all. In fact... I was in the family car, and we were driving through a suburban neighborhood that was certainly NOT in Ohio. I glanced over to see my 15-year-old brother glaring at me.

"Y'know, Jennifer, this is a one-time thing. I'm not letting you sleep on me again." James said, pushing his dark brown hair out of his dark brown eyes. I sighed and adjusted my stupid glasses so that they were lying on my nose correctly.

"Mom... why are we all in the car..." I asked, completely confused as to what we were doing. James scoffed and looked out the window again.

"Yes, go on, _mother_, tell her why you decided to wait till NOW to tell us that we were moving back to Indiana."

If it weren't for the seatbelt that had somehow stayed attached while I was sleeping, I would have jumped out the car.

"WE'RE _WHAT!?_" I yelled as loud as I could, my voice echoing around the small car.

"I'm sorry, dear... but your father and I weren't sure how to break the news to you... so we, um, didn't..."

"Do you guys realize that you are uprooting our LIVES?" James replied, his eyes still hard as stone. Now I understood why he was annoyed at me earlier.

"Now, honey, you had friends in Indiana too! Why, I'm sure that some are still here, and you can catch up again!"

I just signed in annoyance and looked out the window. Funny, I seemed to recognize that knothole in that tree that looked like a horse. And the fence around that lot that bent inward near the gate seemed very familiar. I gulped.

"Mom... is this our old neighborhood?" I asked quietly, dreading the response.

"It is, in fact!" she said, pulling out a homemade banner from her purse as we drove into an unfamiliar driveway.

Ohhhhh, no. No no no no. This can't be happening.

This was exactly... EXACTLY... like my dream.

And that means that...

I got out of the car very quickly. A woman opened the door to the house in front of our car and said brightly, "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Madley! I'm Tracy Sheridan, from Sunny Homes! We're SO glad that you decided to buy a house through us! Come, I'll give you the 'Grand Tour'!"

I didn't stick around. I sprinted down the driveway and ran a block or so until I felt like I had to slow down. I finally collapsed on a bench near a park and buried my head in my hands, my long brown hair shielding me. My heart and head were racing, but I didn't know what thoughts were going through there.

I felt a slight pressure on my shoulder and I slowly looked up. There was a boy who looked to be around my age standing in front of me with a smile on his face. He had dirty blonde hair and and few freckles across his nose and cheeks, accenting his warm hazel eyes. He seemed almost familiar... but I was sure I wouldn't have recognized anyone from Indiana after all these years.

"Hey..." he said softly. "Are you okay?"

I smiled up at him and replied, "Yeah, I guess, there's just a lot going through my mind. I... I just moved here, and I'm kinda overwhelmed. My name's Jennifer Madley, but call me Jenn."

His beautiful smile faltered a tiny bit when I mentioned my name, but he gained it back just as quickly.

"My name's Tob-" he cut himself off and I looked at him, confused. He sighed and sat next to me. "No. I'm not going to lie to you. That's not my name. My real name is Jude."

**OMIGODOMIGODOMIGOD IT'S OVEEEEEEEER! AND DAT ENDING! IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL! **

**Oh my God... This is the very last update. I MISS YOU ALL ALREADY!**

**Oh God, just a sec, lemme get my box of tissues...**

**Firstly, I just want to quickly thank myself, for actually FINISHING A STORY FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE!**

**Secondly, and most importantly, I want to thank YOU. Yes, YOU. For all of those who read Name's Memory, who reviewed, followed, and favorited. YOU PEOPLE are the ones who really kept me writing this story. There are a few people I would like to mention: **UnselfishSacrifice, EpicEmma (Emma Panda now, but I still know you as EpicEmma :D), WritingIsMyLife426, ArrogantPlatypus, and ChloeHeidrich1228. There are many others, of course, but these people really stood out to me as inspirations, big/long-time supporters, people that made me feel fuzzy, and other things like that. I LOVE YOU ALL!  
><strong>**

****Thirdly, I want to thank Smosh. For existing. And making Name's Memory possible in the first place. Yup. :)****

****So now that Name's Memory is over, what will happen? Well, you all will go back to your lives and other stories. And I will retreat into my small, dark thinking corner. And think. Because I want to write a new story for you. I love writing. I've tried so many things over the years, like painting, drawing, dancing, singing, and acting, And I have zero talent with everything I've ever tried. (Except maybe acting... and makeup. I could be a makeup artist. Maybe.) I'm not saying that because I want sympathy from everyone because I can't do anything with my life. I'm saying that because it's true. But when I write... I feel like I can actually DO something worthwhile. I can actually create something that people like and enjoy, and THAT means the world to me. Every single review and follow and favorite makes me smile so much! So this isn't MY story. No, this is OUR story. It wouldn't have been finished if I didn't have amazing support from every single one of you. But I did, and now I've completed something that I'm SO proud of.****

****Anyway, PLEASE favorite Name's Memory if you haven't already, and feel free to recommend this story to people! I really don't want this to simply drown into a sea of stories. I want this to live on. This story was started (Or published, I should say) on February 11th, 2012, and was ended (or last updated, I should say) on January 6th, 2013. That's almost an entire year! Well, actually, seeing as I had the first several chapters already written when I published, I HAVE been writing this for a year! Isn't that ******amazing? 35 chapters, 43,920 words. And please remember that when I hit the 'COMPLETE' button today, this isn't the last you'll see of me. Nope. This is the beginning.**

**Happy Reading, I'll Be Writing! ;)**


End file.
